The Shiro Saga Legacy of a Mewtwo
by Keili
Summary: Pokémon uncensored... what happens when life takes its toll on a Mewtwo who lived his life as a killer.
1. Default Chapter

**The Shiro Saga**

**Story #1: The legacy of the one-eyed murderer.**

**Prologue**

My name is none of your business. My age, you could say, is two. You could say it's 17. These would be the difference in human and Pokémon years.

One thing I will tell you, straight-out, is that I am a Mewtwo. That's right, _a _Mewtwo, meaning there are more than one.

After humans began to show their foolhardy arrogance, they created a clone of the Mew, the last pure-hearted Pokémon left. The only one to not share _human_ emotion.

Until my species were made. A ruthless race we were, riddled with human thought… a sad, sorry beast, Mewtwo seemed to be. No respect from the creators that spliced genes for years to come up with it… no respect from the earthlings that walked the streets that only wanted to capture it.

Trainers were a curse to me. They were my burden, so I _got rid of_ them. I am an assassin. A loner. One who keeps a low profile and kills for profit. Though I only work for myself. The world has broken me… now I shall break _it._

My childhood was short and sweet, though I care not to remember it. My memories only remind me of what I once had… and what I gave up. My adolescent years were nothing but violence and bloodshed. My victims, every creature to cross my path. I was the black cat of the 20th century.

I have no friends. I have no enemies. Only those who make fun of my appearance are those I hold grudge against. I'll admit, I may seem a bit hideous upon first glance, but my haggard, torn skin and blood-soaked fur are only what I have gained from hate.

I calmed myself after taking my anger out on enough hapless prey-creatures. I suppose it was all thanks to my death…

The only reason I am talking to you now is because a person came along and spared me. Though this person seemed to be no ordinary lass. Not of this world, even. From what I know, being a very reliable source, no human could ever merge with a Pocket Monster before this one…

I was revived, in a sense, as a sort of spirit, sharing the shell of the human… or whatever she was, for that matter… as a separate entity entirely. Though she could assume my form upon will, as could I, when I took control.

Her life, I soon found out, was far from stressful, being only seven years of age in a house with twenty-eight sisters. I actually stopped and counted once or twice.

So naturally, it was a slow seven years before anything really interesting happened. That day, after the girl had turned fourteen, a genetic experiment gone wrong attacked the city in which she lived.

Being what the humans would consider a "Pokémon Master," she and a close friend of the family took on the beast with their own teams of monsters. Failing miserably seemed to trigger some sort of transformation within the girl, Kae's, small Charmander, and her companion, R-K's, Charizard.

The two gained gold and silver armor, finally destroying the being. I was intrigued by how two small monsters could generate such power so easily.

This plagued my thoughts for a short time, until it was decided that there would be a council of monsters to meet their creator. The being Archaeopteryx.

Being a lover of chaos, I decided I would go.

I arrived upon the scene, receiving stares by the shit-load. Of course, they most likely didn't know of my no-staring-or-I-kill-you-promptly policy. I joined the ranks of most creatures, though considered myself far above the commonplace monsters there. They knew not half of what I did.

The creator of these creatures gave me a peculiar glance upon first sight. As though he realized that I was no mere Pokémon. But a clone. Clones were the only beasts he had no control over, being that they were created by human hands, and not his own talons.

I'd merely come to stir up some mischief.

"YOU…" The voice of the great white-silver dragon exploded in my direction. "YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THE REAL MONSTERS. YOU ARE BUT A CLONE. WHAT BUSINESS HAVE YOU ON MY GROUNDS?"

"None." Came my response, simple and curt, as always my answers are… not to mention vague as one could get.

The giant, other-worldly being lowered one brow, raising the other, and stared at me with great, glowing eyes, bigger than myself in comparison. "THEN WHY HAVE YOU COME?" he inquires in suspicion.

"As a witness." I answered evasively.

"A WITNESS OF WHAT?" He queried further, growing less and less tolerant of me by the moment.

"A Pokémon council." I said quietly, the first completely true answer I'd given him thus far.

"STAY UNSEEN AND I WILL ALLOW YOU TO REMAIN." He forewarns in a hiss, much like a serpent's.

"Indeed, _master._" I mocked, laughing aloud.

With a swirl of his gleaming tail, he turned about and stood before the others.

"AS YOU ALL CLEARLY SEE, THERE IS A _CLONE _IN OUR MIDST." He sneers, emphasizing the word "clone," as though disgusted. "YOU SHALL TREAT IT AS IT WOULD TREAT YOU. THIS IS THE LAW OF THE LAND."

"I'm a male, you bastard!" I shouted, upon the fact he'd called me an "it."

His gruesome face coils in anger. "Bastard am I?" he asks in return, tensing considerably.

"Yes, I'm quite sure you don't know your father." I retorted. _Join the club._ I thought to myself.

He simply glowered down upon me with glowing eyes that reflected my image. "YOU'RE VERY ARROGANT FOR A CLONE." He snapped toward me. "YOU ARE THE VERY IMAGE OF YOUR SPECIES, BOY. A PROUD, NASTY SONOFABITCH JUST ASKING TO GET HIS ASS KICKED."

"Oh?" I responded unconcernedly. "Am I the one asking, or are you just tired of my 'attitude?'"

A few of the natural monsters sharply glared at me. Of course, no one could match my frightening façade, so I had naught to fear.

Eventually, they all tired of arguing with me, so the council continued.

I sat back, amusing myself by watching ants or some such thing, though all in all, I was bored. I figured 'twas time to wreak some havoc.

I unsheathed a katana I usually kept with me and prodded the nearest creature with the tip, causing them to jump and yelp.

Upon looking back, it seemed to have turned a few heads in my direction. One voice yelled out and the whole crowd went flying into different directions. One Arcanine, however, had not moved from her rank.

"Well, you've certainly done it now, Mewtwo." She muttered in my direction calmly. "Archaeopteryx never did like you, and he won't give you mercy."

"I don't believe I asked his mercy, did I, missy?" came my cold reply, as I began to draw in the dirt with its point. "You are, by the way?"

"Kasumi." She answered. "Surely you've heard of me."

"Of course." I added, sitting and still scribbling. "You're as famous as I am infamous."

"Well, what of yourself, troublemaker?" she inquired, not so much as turning back her head.

"I bear no name." I told her simply. "I have been cursed with a thousand lifetimes of misery, so I shan't reveal my title to you."

Thunderous footsteps approached slowly.

"Interesting though that is, I believe someone wishes to speak to you." She sneers, in a manner to rival my own overruling sarcasm.

"No, he wishes to crush me and feed my broken carcass to the dogs, Kasumi. I'd much rather converse with one not after my blood. You're the first creature to do so in years." I ended only half-truthfully. I'm not one to speak truths.

"'Twas a pleasure speaking to you, and I wish you well… you'll need it." She forewarns, stepping away from the giant dragon's path.

The last I saw of her, she had taken off, and the platinum dragon stood in my wake. "YOU HAVE BROKEN THE LAST STRAW, PUNY CLONE…" the roaring beast's voice exploded into the still air.

"I'm sure." Was all I muttered in return to his words, dripping with the utmost loathing toward me.

In the blink of an eye, the time-space continuum stopped dead, and all that was left was the Pokémon world, barren and lifeless but for the plant matter.

For several years, the dragon kept the planet this way, before finally replacing the beings, deciding on a penalty for my actions.

As soon as all time had returned to normal, a giant series of storms plagued the planet, one after another. First was an earthquake, from the down-step of his talon, next a hurricane from far in the west, followed by natural disasters aplenty.

In these massive outbreaks of disastrous weather, many were transported to other lands, other worlds, and sometimes other times entirely.

Though I remained in the same dimensions as before.

With all the confusion, many could help themselves getting back to the right placings, but others stayed astray in a vastly different surrounding than what they had become accustomed to.

How I know this? The human sharing my being aged rapidly in that span of only a few years, from fourteen years to almost twenty, though the actual span had been a mere passing of the twelve months.

_Peculiar._ I thought, as the beasts returned to their meaningless lives. _The being possesses power enough to alter and conceive time…_

From then on, I became slightly more wary of supernatural, otherworldly creatures… of course, this did not apply to the mass of the population.

Later on in the years, Kae and R-K did several other things not concerning myself, but their little 'teams' of obediently enslaved monsters. It was then that I learned… the Arcanine I'd met at the meeting shared a soul with Kae's friend.

This, I'll admit, surprised me. I never could've imagined that I would see Kasumi again, let alone that she would be sort of a neighbor. My hate of life slowly began to dim with every passing glance she paid me.

These are tales that didn't apply to Kasumi and me. Now begins the _real_ tale.

**Chapter #1: A Heart of Stone Crumbles**

This may come as somewhat of a shock, but there shall be a change of narrator for the duration of most stories. Since my role becomes much more minor as the actual writing progresses, I am a full-time narrator as of now, unless stated otherwise. I'm Kae. The one the Mewtwo was talking about. And this is the saga of the life we live… get ready, because you may not believe what you hear.

Now, I'm sure you've met my pal, the Mewtwo, but you don't know the half of him. You just saw his good side. If someone gets on his nerves, he tends to lose all sense and becomes trigger-happy, swordsman-style. All this and he's never revealed his name. He said that uttering his name would only bring curses to those around him, but I'm not so sure he's quite certain of how to define: curse.

Well, I seem to know just a bit more about him than he does about himself. I could be wrong, but my Mewtwo, Lion, was told to be the little brat's father. This I find impossible, because for everything that's the same between them, there are about three differences. It puzzles me to no end, but I heard such from the very scientists that made him. He was a Team Rocket clone, but they lost all record of him in about 1987. It just… disappeared.

Knowing this, I'm sure you have more questions, but I couldn't answer you if I tried. I don't know, either.

As I pondered these things, as well as others, I sat outside on a warm, slightly windy day. Being a Pokémon master, I had nothing to worry about, even if I was challenged. My monsters alone could handle any competitor without the slightest fault. It tended to get _really _boring.

That's why I had R-K. She was the friend I'd had for the majority of my life, not to mention my career, because we'd met by accident as I was passing through. She saved my Crocanaw from being stolen, and from then on, we were the best of friends. Nutty, isn't it?

Speaking of, she was the one who approached as I lay stretched out on a chair, unconscious, yet able to think. Kind of like a state of semi-sleep.

She took one look at me and began to prod at my head. "Since when do you go outside?"

I batted at her hand lazily and grunted. "Today."

"I see…" She muttered, perking her Arcanine ears and cocking a brow.

I nearly collapsed from exhaustion afterwards, having been up for nearly two days. Having my house, you'd be awake all night, too.

She still insisted on prodding me. "Get up, lazy-ass."

My violet tail twitched in agitation and I rolled over, using my crossed arms as a pillow. "Now that you insist, no."

She steamed a minute and kicked my chair over promptly.

It landed on top of me and I had little trouble falling dead asleep, other than the fact that the ground was rather cold.

R-K kept at it, trying to wake me, but to little avail. I finally regained my senses when an inchworm crawled across my ear.

"Alright, alright… I'm awake." I paused. "I think."

"Well don't think!" she snapped. "I have an emergency situation."

"Like what?" I muttered, grinding at my black eyes with the side of my hand and wrist.

"I have to baby-sit." She grumbled, looking away, ears flat to her skull.

I yawned and scratched at my head. "What's so bad about that?"

"You'll see." Was all she said, before dragging me by the tail to the mainland where her house was. I lived on an island not far from shore.

Once we were in the house, a small child zipped by, surprisingly quickly for such a short person, screeching in a high-pitched and whining voice; saying things like: "Candycandysugarchocolateicecream!!!"

"Now I get it." I muttered to R-K, currently more awake than I once was.

After about a minute of the squeaking shrieks, both of us were at the brink of insanity trying to keep our sensitive ears from bursting.

"Oh, _shut up!_" the both of us chorused, meaninglessly so far as the child was concerned.

"Yes, hence her nickname, 'Annoyingness Maximus.'" R-K explained in a forced voice, so as to be heard.

"I can tell." I nearly shouted back.

Though with the small girl's footsteps pattering back and forth through the house, the noise was doubled from what it would've been had she simply stood still.

"This just gets better and better by the minute, eh, R-K?" I joked in sarcasm, watching Annoyingness reach one end of the house and turn around, running back to the next.

"You can say that again." She added, hands holding her canine ears flat onto her head, in her dark black hair. I had my own feline pinna burrowed into my dark brown locks.

"What-say we at least restrain the hyperactive thing?" I suggested. "Then maybe we can hopefully put her to sleep…"

"Yeah, let's try that." She agreed in a stressed tone. She took off after the small child, and I watched for a few minutes as she failed to keep the situation under control. "Mind lending a hand!?"

"Not at all." I told her, standing and slowly morphing into the state of the scar-covered Mewtwo that chose to live as my counterpart, rather than die. My nose and mouth melded together and my eyes altered considerably. The left grew white and the sight in it was completely lost, while the right narrowed and sharpened, gaining lavender tinge. A tube ran down from my head and connected with a hard plate that covered and broadened my shoulders somewhere between my shoulder blades. My hands became stout and incredibly stubby, even by Mewtwo's standards. The tips of the fingers I now possessed grew round fingertips and seemed to reek with an emanating power. As though even just the left hand of this Mewtwo could annihilate an entire civilization. Though, oddly, it was merely his dominant limb. My feet stretched and my thighs shortened, my knee now becoming a false knee and my heel now my hock. The point at which my toes bent became my real knee. In the middle of the transformation, my clothing melded into the skin of the Mewtwo I had become, scarred and torn apart in as many places as possible. You could say he was weathered by his experience.

He stepped slowly up to the area the youth was parading across, watching her approach with hawk's eyes. He caught her every movement, as cat's eyes were meant to do, and lashed out with his arm, lightning reflexes and timing exact down to the letter. His hand clenched the collar of the little girl in a fraction of the time it would take to blink an eye. He pulled her close to his almost gray pelt, crawling with parasites accumulated through the years where he'd lived outside, away from the society that had shunned him.

He paced toward the chair R-K had prepared and tied the young ball of energy to it with leeway enough so that she could breathe, but not much else.

_"Much obliged." _I thought, saying it to him because he shared my mind.

He only snorted, giving me a perturbed stare.

I morphed back, joining R-K in her kitchen where Annoyingness bounced around in the chair, still gleeful as ever. "Let's try hypnosis for starters. Got a Pokémon on you with the attack?" I questioned of her.

"Yes, it just happens to be that I do."

"Release it." I instructed, letting my Alakazam stand before Annoyingness. Immediately, he covered his 'ears' and ground his tiny fangs.

"Relax; Morty… it's only the equivalent of Screech." I assured, stroking his bald yellow head.

He nodded and lowered his hands.

R-K then let out a Gengar, and it looked to Morty, averting his sights to the girl momentarily after.

"Morty!" I commanded.

"Gengar!" R-K echoed.

"Hypnosis!" we instructed in unison.

Morty's eyes glowed off-purple and R-K's Gengar waved his hands, blue, gassy waves floating from his fingertips. Both attacks hit simultaneously, though did naught but stifle the child's energy for a moment.

Once she began to scream again, we returned the two and formed a new plan.

"We'll get some Pokémon with the Sing attack… that's guaranteed to work." R-K muttered, releasing a few Lapras and a Clefable.

I nodded, digging into my backpack in the other room and taking the ball of a few Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Lapras, Clefable, and a Jynx I just happened to have.

We started the chorus with the Jigglypuff, adding Wigglytuff, and then the Lapras joined, followed by the Clefable and the surprisingly musical Jynx.

Eventually, after about half-an-hour's-worth of them singing, Annoyingness fell dead asleep in the chair.

The Pokémon, all exhausted from the effort, collapsed and sighed.

"Well, that was quite the session…" I complimented, so used to hearing the sing attack that I wasn't fazed by it. "Good work, guys."

The lot were glad to return and the kitchen was empty again. Though the song they'd sung had reminded me just how tired I really was.

_"Wimp." _The Mewtwo sneered.

_"Shut up, you."_

R-K and I went back into the living room and I lie across one of the couches, head on my backpack, falling back to sleep.

One thing wrong with that, I soon found out. It turns out, Annoyingness Maximus screeches things in her sleep on occasion, and is rather loudly, at that.

"How do they put up with her!?" I demanded, wondering why she hadn't been abandoned yet.

"She's not as bad at her own house because they spoil her to death." R-K inputs in a mumble, playing her Game boy™.

"Ass-munch." I spat at her, rolling onto my side and scratching my arm. "If that were my child, I'll just not go there."

"Indeed." She mutters in return.

"So what now?" I asked, too tired to sleep.

"Don't know." She answered. "They'll be here to pick up AM any minute." She saves the game and turns it off. "Want to go outside?"

"Sure… why not?" I grumbled, standing and stretching drowsily.

We headed out her side-door and into the yard, the sun glaring warmly down upon us, with no trace of wind or any such thing wrong with the weather.

This usually meant bad news.

"Hmm… no one is ever supposed to suspect the sunny day. But we know better than that, right, R-K?"

She nodded and looked around into the endless yard she owned. "Wonder what's going on this time."

"Good question." I responded, beginning to walk forward and observe the surroundings. As once mentioned, I was a very inside person. I don't get out much.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to a dot with wings in the distance.

I stared up at it, black eyes narrowing only slightly, even though it was considerably bright out. "Don't know… what do you think?"

She shrugs and we stared at it as it grew larger and gained a form.

A winged girl swooped in and landed next to us, resembling me in appearance, but size, not by far. She was miles taller than I was, but had the same face and half-Pokémon qualities as I did. Though she was a Golbat.

"Hey, R-K, little sis!" she greeted, smiling at us with a fanged grin. "Since when do you go outside?" she asked of me.

"Quiet." I snapped.

She shrugged and crossed her arms casually. "Well, what've you been up to?" she asked, attempting to start a conversation.

"Sleeping, mostly." I muttered.

"Baby-sitting." R-K grumbled.

"So I see." She added, flinching upon hearing one of the screeches from inside of the house. If you think cat or dog ears are sensitive, try being a bat.

As the other two began to converse, my hearing drowned out and became faint, as though I were near-deaf.

_"Hello?" _I could hear all of a sudden. _"Is anyone there?"_

_"What?"_ I responded uncharacteristically kindly, seeing as the lad seemed scared shitless. _"What is it? Who is this?"_

_"Oh, thank God! This is Jonathan, a resident of Pokémon London." _He explained more calmly.

_"__London__?" _I repeated in curiosity. _"Telepathy can reach this far?"_

_"Heheh. Apparently so." _He answered, sounding more hopeful. _"Well, anyway, I just wanted to know… if you're able to hear me, can you help me."_

_"This isn't the helpdesk, okay? If it requires a mercenary, then we're good, but nothing else, I'm afraid." _I explained to him.

_"Perfect!" _he exclaimed. _"A mercenary is just what I need."_

_"Alright, then we can help you." _I assured. _"What's the problem?"_

_"I live in a castle, one of the only left, and some strange person that I've never really even seen just moved into the lower floors one day and prevented my Pokémon and me from moving any lower than the topmost floor."_

_"I see." _I told him, slightly unconcerned, being heartless as I am. _"Though we can help if it's for the good of Pokémon. Humans we're not so concerned about, but if it's for the good of Pokémon."_

He laughs. _"Well, this is good, either way. But when would I expect you all to arrive?"_

_"Oh, I don't know… nightfall?"_

_"Nightfall!?" _He repeated, in shock. _"Where exactly are you guys coming from, anyway?"_

_"__Japan__." _I answered.

_"Ah. Well, see you then, I guess." _He muttered, as my hearing faded back in.

"Why's she staring into the abyss like that?" R-K inquired.

My older sister shrugged. "Probably talking to that Mewtwo again. I don't see why though. He's rather inconsiderate."

"Guys, we've got a problem." I interrupted, turning around to face them.

"Such as?" my sister asked.

"There's a kid in London that needs our help. He and his monsters are being forced into the upper levels of his castle." I told them.

"In London?" she repeated skeptically. "This _has_ to be a prank."

"No prank." I assured sternly, giving her a warning leer. "Do you honestly think someone would send us all the way to London to laugh at us?"

"Yes."

I paused, considering her point. "Okay, well, do you know anyone other than a Pokémorph that can speak telepathically?"

"Point proven." She looked back to R-K. "Why's your head on fire?"

Indeed, R-K-9e's head was aflame.

"She just doesn't like to be ignored." I pulled out a slice of cheese from my pocket, waving it in the air.

"Cheese!" she squealed, leaping forth and tackling me to get at the processed dairy product.

"Yes, R-K. It's cheese." I muttered shoving her off and returning to my feet.

"Well, we'd better be off, if we're to get to London by nightfall." Kai #2, the Golbat-anthro, suggested.

"Indeed." I added, looking to R-K.

"I have cheese!!!" she announced gleefully, unwrapping and inhaling the yellowed food.

"Right." I told her, nodding and morphing again, into the young male of the Mewtwo kind, covered in scars and shrouded in mystery.

My elder sister became an elder Golbat, missing a small chunk of flesh on the ear and with torn wings from ages of fighting. The light yellow eyes of the bat shone eerily, watching everything around him, though his expression suggested otherwise.

R-K transformed when through with her food, into a beauty of an Arcanine, a female with a scar running across her left eye, both her alluring orbs a dazzlingly deep and shining midnight blue.

"One question." The Mewtwo proposed, upon seeing Kasumi stand before him. "How are you to fly?" he sneered in a curious manner.

"You'll see, Mewtwo, with the only eye that can, no less." She returned the sarcastic grin and superior tone. She stepped forth and her fur turned black, with bloodred stripes across her finely curved spine. Two giant demonic wings burst from her shoulder blades and she stared back at him with gleaming scarlet eyes.

The Golbat rose into the air unsteadily, with such insufficient wings, and the peculiar Mewtwo rose using his levitational powers, despite how much he hated to do so.

With one great down swipe, Kasumi rose into midair and joined them, as we sent off for Poké-England.

Along the way, the Golbat accompanying us began to smile.

"What, Ganna?" the young lad snapped, as though insulted.

He shakes his head. "Nothing, nothing, young Mewtwo… just… we're not exactly what a person in need would consider a rescue team." He chortles. "Rather, it would look like the three of us had come to kill him."

"Surely." He spits unenthusiastically in return, batting his mismatched eyes.

Ganna seemed to quiet after that was said, and the three continued on toward their destination.

Though their next highlight seemed rather odd, indeed. As they passed, those paying attention would note a Dewgong shooting an Aurora Beam attack against an unknown opponent, the white seal wearing a black satin collar with flashing red-and-blue lights adorning it.

We had no time to stop, so we couldn't do much more than glance as we passed by. But that certainly was interesting, I should say.

We reached an area close to the castle we'd heard of. Close enough, in fact, that we could actually spot the stone towers from our current point.

Kasumi lead us forth, having morphed mostly back, though keeping the wings she possessed during the transformation.

The castle grew closer, but we wouldn't get there quite so easily, it seemed. A Moltres flew in front of us as we attempted to pass.

"Halt!" it commanded. "Be you trespassers or passersby?"

"Hmm…" my Mewtwo comrade began, holding his head in his hand. "Yeah, I think we'd count as trespassers." He muttered, shoving the bird aside and making his way past.

It darted back and flew into his line of passage. "Firstly, Mewtwo, why are you speaking? Should you not address me in telepathy?"

"Did I not imply that I wanted you to _get the hell out of my way?_" he asked in annoyance, grinding his yellowed fangs and glaring with his fiendish death stare.

He stared suspiciously towards the Mewtwo. "Secondly, if you want to get past me, brute, you'll have to fight me." He challenged, looking over the possible opponents. "What about you, Golbat?"

"Aye, I'll accept." He answered, floating forth on tatters of wings and indicating that Shiro should back away for now. "Though you may want to think about your choice after you've lost, Yorokku." He said strangely.

The Moltres recoiled in shock. "Master Ganna!?" he squawked, reconsidering making the choice for his opponent based upon power in appearance. "Y-you're dead!" he demanded.

The Golbat smiles serenely and flaps his wings to remain airborne.

"Fine, we'll see, Sensei." He agreed, flames dancing atop his head and upon his tail and wings. "I've always wanted to know if I would ever surpass you."

"Well, come on. Are we going to chat idly, or are we going to fight?" Ganna taunted, chuckling at his former student.

"Oh, we'll fight, old man." He assured.

Both dove and attacked one another briskly. Ganna swung in the air to gain momentum and solidly landed a kick into the Moltres's head.

As it fell to the Earth nearly ¼ of a mile down, Ganna stared seriously toward it. "You never learned anything, Yorokku. And now you pay for your foolishness. Surely, I was dead, but my soul was spared by a young girl I met… one with a particular love for bats."

He returned to the others and they continued on.

Next up, a Zapdos confronted them. The hot-headed Mewtwo boy seemed eager to make him pay for interrupting their quest.

"Stop!" it commanded, speaking Zapdos, as the Moltres before him had done. "You are trespassing, and I'll not allow it!"

"We are, are we?" the boy answered in riddle, looking back to Kasumi and Ganna. "Did _you _all know we were _trespassing?_" he inquired of them in a slow and mocking voice.

Kasumi sniggered and Ganna merely smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I guess they knew." He continued in the curt implement of his real voice. "As did I. So what do you plan to do about it?" he questions of the electric bird.

"I plan to make you pay for your mouth, boy!" the Zapdos snapped at him.

"Go ahead." He challenged. "Make my day."

The Zapdos charged, ignorant of the others, and sent a shockwave toward the telekinetic cat that floated before him.

The psychic feline brushed away the attack with a hand, unfazed in the least. He, however, pulled back his fist as the hawk charged, and let loose a punch that would kill a horse, if given a chance.

The bird's beak shattered and it fell to the ground in a stupor, if not dead.

"Two down, one to go." He mumbled, cracking his knuckles and leading them forth to the next opponent.

This Articuno, like the others, stopped them and demanded that they not go further, lest they should "face the consequences."

The trio were not amused.

Kasumi flew forth and stepped up to battle. Though upon seeing the arctic falcon, she recoiled and her ravishing eyes narrowed harshly.

"So we meet again." Kasumi hissed through her gleaming fangs.

"Indeed." He answered, puffing his feathers and glaring with his own lavender eyes. His icy tail waved in one smooth motion. "This is for the anguish you caused me." He announced boldly, crown adorning his royal head well.

"And this is for your ignorance." She spat in return, charging forth.

In a flash, the Articuno fell, though the Arcanine seemed to want more than a simple victory. She took back one paw and lashed at the throat of the challenger, and he fell to the earth dead.

She watched proudly as he fell and rejoined the others, as if nothing had happened. The Mewtwo boy acted so as well. Ganna, though, was skeptical.

"I do not think he deserved to die, Kasumi." He protested indignantly, glancing from Kasumi to the youth to the bird.

She took back her lips and spat upon the falling falcon. "Yes he did." She growls, still through gritted fangs.

The young boy sat back and watched her amusedly. In fact, it'd been the first time I'd ever seen him smile. "Good show, Kasumi. Though I'm curious. What was his crime that damned his fate?"

"It's nothing of your concern." She replied evasively, though not as curtly as she would've had she been speaking to Ganna.

"I see." He responded quietly, still curious as a cat.

Ganna looked back and forth between them. "How can you both _be_ so heartless?" he demanded.

The one-eyed Mewtwo stared directly at the old Golbat, hypnotizing eyes frightening and alluring in the same essence. "We're killers, old man." Came his response, sweet and simple as though he were asked a mere yes or no question.

Ganna shook his head, eyes widening and glittering with anxiety. "No…"

"Did I stutter?" the young boy snapped, flying forth.

As they approached the castle, they entered the window silently and landed inside. The boy kneeled onto his hands and knees, rising boldly upon his entrance and looking down at a boy no older than myself. Kasumi stepped out from behind him and folded her wings, allowing them to disappear. Ganna hung in the sky above their heads, none too impressive on his own.

The English lad I mentioned earlier stood in fear of the three that'd entered his window suddenly. Certainly, you wouldn't believe me if I told you your rescue team was a blind-eyed Mewtwo, an Arcanine with wings, and a beaten-up looking Golbat.

He stared from Kasumi to the Mewtwo boy, unsure of whether seeing one was worse than seeing the other.

"Y-y-y-y-you're wanted!!" he stutters, still double-taking and staring at both of them.

"Well, you think we'd be aware of that, seeing as our faces are on wanted posters around the globe, eh, Kasumi?" the boy asked lightly, glancing back to the Arcanine that stood behind him.

She smiles. "Yes, I believe we would."

Jonathan still glanced from monster to monster, hardly noticing the Golbat in the back, flying to a rafter and clinging upside-down to it.

I morphed back to my semi-human form and R-K followed suit.

Before his very eyes, the English child had witnessed a transformation from the two assassins he'd feared to two young women now standing before him. My elder sister flew lower to the ground and joined us, folding her wings softly.

"Well, well, Jonathan. I see you're not quite normal… just as the rest of us aren't." I looked back to Kai and R-K. "We, such as you, have morphing ability." I took hold of one of his light brown wings gingerly. "So it seems, you are a Pidgeot. Might I ask how this happened?"

He nodded and the cork-bottle glasses he wore drooped. "I came across a dying Pidgeot one day and we were fused as I was carrying it to my castle."

"And you've obviously learned how to at least keep the tail, the crown, and the wings of the bird, yes?"

He again nodded.

"Good. Now, one question."

"Yes?"

"Why did you not simply morph and escape this prison you're apparently living in?" I set his wing down. "You could very well fly if you were to become a Pidgeot."

"How?" he asked, tilting his head and furrowing his brow.

I sighed. "That answers that question."

He looked back as a Houndoom approached, followed by a Charmeleon and a Pidgeot female with a shattered wing in wraps. "I would've had Flyaway take us somewhere, but they broke her wing so we couldn't."

My anger was obvious, as Jonathan seemed to want to avoid me.

"Now, I could see why they would want to take this castle, but not allowing you to evacuate? Who does this guy think he is!?" I demanded, as Kai nodded and R-K's head slowly burned with fires of her hate to be ignored.

Jonathan points to her. "Why's her head on fire?"

I removed another slice of cheese from my pocket. "She doesn't like to be ignored. Cheese, R-K?"

"Cheese!!!" she shouted gleefully.

"Fetch." I told her, tossing it into another room.

She leapt after it and chased it into where it'd landed.

"That girl likes cheese a bit too much." I muttered, watching her devour the dairy process.

"I can see." He added, also staring intently as she ate the cheese.

I glanced out the window and watched the stars fade into view.

"Since you've come to help, you can stay the night here if you wish." He explains, watching me stare out the window.

"Sure, Johnny." I teased, looking around the cozy room.

"John, if anything… but not Johnny." He corrected, shaking his head, messy red-brown hair flying.

"Gotcha." I assured, walking over to another wall and leaning against it. "By the way, John, how did you say the Pidgeot died?"

"I didn't." he corrected. "But all I saw so far as a wound was a gash across the chest, straight and narrow, but quite deep."

"Odd. Not natural, eh?"

He shook his head. "No."

_"Well, this is certainly going somewhere." _The Mewtwo within my head sneered, chuckling heartily at his own joke.

_"Quiet_." I returned the sassy tone toward him and began to think.

_"Hey, here's a hint: I KILLED IT_." He further said, annoying me, but revealing less than he'd intended. I didn't trust him too well, but this is something he _would_ parade around bragging about.

"It was him." I thought aloud, without realizing I'd done so.

"Him?" John repeats, eager to hear more.

I looked back at him. "The Mewtwo… he killed the Pidgeot you're fused with now." I explained simply.

He shook his head, devastated. "No… he couldn'tve… the cut was too straight and too deep. Some Mewtwo have claws, surely, but it's impossible to get that clean of a serration from a claw."

I shook my own head. "You misunderstand. He had no claws. Hence why he carried a sword."

_"BINGO! We have a winner!"_ he announced aloud, so that all could hear.

"Murderer." Jonathan hissed, backing away from me and into the hall. "That Mewtwo is not welcome in this castle."

_"'Not welcome?'" _he repeated with fake concern. _"Well, I can honestly say I've never heard that one before."_

Jonathan's eyes flared and sparkled dangerously. "Reform him or I will not allow him to speak." He threatened, staring at me from behind his thin glasses.

_"Really, I'm _shaking._" _He taunted, holding a scabby hand to his ruptured chest. For not only could I hear what he was saying, but I could see what he was doing.

John turned away and sat upon his sofa, folding his wings over himself.

_"Well, you've done it now, asshole. I'm on the brink of being kicked out all thanks to you." _I snapped at him, though he did naught but smile sinisterly.

As the hours passed, I found myself wandering around to check the scenery I was in. Being curious as I was, I couldn't help it. Though when I was sure that the wretched child sitting inside my head was resting, I approached John, still sitting on his couch, head down and wings shielding him.

"You know, you're pretty brave to stand up to him." I complemented, crossing my arms and standing before him.

He glanced up and his eyewear shone with the moonlight entering from the outside. "What?"

"The guy's a pain in the ass. He's snide, arrogant, and he's got the brain to back it up. Most people just choose not to mess with him." I continued, pacing a few steps back and forth.

He watched as I walked. "Oh… well, he's all that you say, I'm sure, but this is my home. I'll defend it with my life."

I backed up, leaning against a nearby wall. "I now see why you never left."

He nodded. "I surprise alot of people that way."

I had lowered my head and lay it against my collarbone, when I was taken surprise by a voice addressing me.

_"You seem bored."_ Came the sly words of my elder sister, sneered in a superior tone as she stared at me from the other side of the room.

_"Of course." _I answered, snorting a laugh.

She smiled and flared her wings. _"You know, there is a way to see the Pokémon's past if you want to."_

_"What? Which Pokémon?"_ I asked, clearly intrigued by the idea.

_"For you, the Mewtwo. For me, Ganna. For R-K, Kasumi."_ She explained, wearing a delightfully maniacal expression. "_Them."_

_"Ooh, I see now." _I responded, still awaiting the secret.

_"Yes."_

_"Well, go on." _I urged with a deadly curiosity.

_"I'm still experimenting with it, so I'll be back with more details." _She assured, looking to John, staring into a fire before him.

"Hey, John!" she called across the room. "You don't mind if we let our teams out in here, do you?"

He looked back and blinked questioningly. "Um, sure, why not?" he paused. "Well, if any of you have something bigger than Lugia, I can't allow it. Only so much room in here, you know."

"Oh, of course. I'm sure none of us have anything much bigger than a Mewtwo." She said, taking a few Pokéballs and releasing a Flareon, Houndoom, Scizor, Kabutops, Mew, and Raikou.

I released my own six, Morty, Lion, another Mewtwo female by name of Lionell, a Feraligator, a Tyranitar, and a black-and-silver Houndoom.

R-K also released her team, a Mewtwo, Gengar, Charizard, Articuno, Arcanine, and Ninetales. Oddly enough, her Mewtwo also bore a vertical scar down his own left eye, both of the startling orbs a silver coloration with a black ring surrounding it. Strangely, he resembled Lion and the young boy I affectionately called "asshole."

Lion wandered over to the elder, violet eyes wide and shining. "Dad?"

The old Mewtwo barked a laugh. "So, you remembered, did you?" he asked in a gruff and mocking voice, just as deep, if not darker than the assassin's. "Yes, Lion. I'm your father, and it's good to see that that brain of yours is working."

He looked away, blushing scarlet.

"You should be a genius, boy. Your mother and I were both quite brilliant." He sneered, smiling devilishly with fangs as long as daggers, him being ten feet or more in height.

"It's the alcohol, Shadow." Lionell input from the background. "You know he's been drinking since he was quite young."

"Li!" he begged, looking back with a pleading glance.

She smiled. "Come now, Lion. You know you've been an alcoholic since before we were married."

"Yes, I know, Li." He said, lowering his head innocently.

"Alcoholic?" John repeated. "A Mewtwo?"

Lion shrugged a shoulder. "We can get hooked just as easily as you humans, you know. If not moreso."

_"That sympathetic moron, example of a fine-tuned bleeding heart, festering kind-hearted wimp." _The small Mewtwo inside my head cursed. _"Waffling imbecile, sorry excuse for a Mewtwo…"_

_"Well, you sure love him, don't you?" _I asked, voice reeking of sarcasm.

_"Oh, if you only knew."_ He forced to say in a disgusted tone, lip curled apathetically and nostrils flared in utter loathing.

_"Come on, he's a good guy."_ I attempted to convince the youth, still watching him take shaking breaths from his gritted fangs and wide nostrils, staring hatefully at Lion from behind two bloodshot eyes.

_"_GOOD_!?_" he exploded, causing my head to throb. He seemed to calm only slightly after a few moments. _"If only you knew the other side of him…"_

_"'Other side!?'" _I repeated, suspicious of his intentions. _"Never have I seen that Mewtwo do wrong. He is a character of pure heart, unlike yourself, always griping and complaining, putting down those you're *jealous* of!"_

_"Jealousy!?" _He retorted, voice growing more powerful by the moment. _"I know not the meaning of the word! If ever I was jealous of that ignorant buffoon, may lightning strike me dead!"_

The conversation ended at that, for I chose not to reply. If the boy would only make insults about my Mewtwo all based on the fact that he was a decent monster, I would never pay him any mind again. Until I heard once more the voice of my kin.

_"I say, my sister, that I've perfected the technique, and now wish to share it with thee, my fair sibling." _She told me, perking her tiny green Golbat ears.

_"Thy timing is impeccable."_ I assured. _"Now do tell."_

Shortly, she explained that we could look into the mind and the memories of the partnering Pokémon if so we desired. Though they could as well, prying into our private lives and secret thoughts. However, this is only when it is allowed.

Soon after, I ventured forth into the memories of the boy, expecting to see some explanation of why he hated Lion so passionately, and how he came to look the way he is.

Every thought I came across, every time I saw something, it was as flagrant as if it'd just happened. It was as though his memory could never be erased, and always was as easily accessible as the moment before.

_Perfect memory…_ I thought, entering one of the windows showing a playing memory of the Mewtwo's youth before he died.

I fell in through the top and cursed when I landed, hiding inside a tree and watching the scene.

I could clearly tell this memory was recent. It was in the woods behind my house, and I saw Lion walking through the forest. His face was wrought in concentration and he wore a cast on his hind leg. I suddenly recalled when Lion had broken that leg, and it'd been only a few years or so from the date.

The young boy leisurely strolled through the woods and actually seemed happy for once in his short life. A smirk was splayed across his face and he had his hands behind his head, callously walking into the area Lion was.

Lion had his head lowered, violet eyes earthbound and moist from his tears. The boy had no inclination that the older cat would be any harm to him, hence why he approached with a demonic expression.

"Nice leg, old man." He sneered superiorly. "Very _fluorescent._"

_Old!? _I demanded silently. Though I only sat back and watched, wanting to see more. Truthfully, Lion was quite young.

"I don't have time for your sarcasm, _rat!_" Lion snapped in return, light, boyish voice shaken.

"Ah, a rat, am I?" he asked, his left side facing me, but his white eye normal, midnight blue, and bearing no scar.

"You've the size enough to be one." Lion muttered over his head through gritted fangs, casting a shadow onto the small boy.

Both the youth's dangerous eyes narrowed, his form much cleaner than I remembered it. In fact, he barely had a scar on his body. "I don't appreciate your commentary, old man." He snarled in his cold voice.

"Well I don't appreciate your actions, _kid._" Retorted the older Mewtwo, hands upon his hips and voice as harsh as the youth's own.

"Actions?" the child asked through a laugh. "What, pray tell, have I done to anger you, gangrene?"

"The death of the famous Kasumi was enough on its own, but now that I've met you, I've decided that I should end your miserable life." He spat, in a tone unrecognizable by even me, his owner for several years.

"Did I do this?" he asked, clearly not caring whether the answer be positive or negative.

"You, and only you, boy, could've done such a thing with no remorse." He continued in the voice I'd only heard from the young Mewtwo and Shadow before.

"Well, I suppose I did, then. An Arcanine, this 'Kasumi' was, right?" he inquired, pacing before Lion with his arms crossed behind his back.

"Aye." The older one answered.

He smiled. "Blue eyes, scar over the left one? Killed by a gun?"

Lion actually reached out and took the boy by the collar. "You're confessing it now! Oh, a _real_ genius you are!" he roared in a frightening tone, as far from that which I knew him as possible.

"Temper, temper, old man." He sneered, cocking a brow and letting himself down from Lion's eye level. "Yes, I killed her. So what's it to you?"

"That's none of your concern." He uttered in a voice so dark I hardly knew it was my own Mewtwo standing before me.

"Ooh, so I've done something _bad_, have I?" the small youth mocked, in his naturally drawling voice.

At that point, Lion had become so furious with him that he lashed out at the boy, middle claw on his right hand slicing over his left eye.

The small boy's head flew back from the blow and he staggered to a standing position several steps back. He had his eyes clenched shut and his hands covered the left one further, as blood stained his fingers.

He lifted his hands from his eye and blinked them open. The now off-set eyes flared and he waved his hand in front of his face. He narrowed his mismatched orbs and raised his head further to look Lion in the eye. He took back a hand.

"You've blinded me, you wretched hassock!" he shouts, taking a swipe at Lion and missing.

Lion turned livid. "Hassock, am I!?" he shouts, tackling the boy and starting a vicious dogfight. Oi, even though they're cats, they're male, you know.

I knew not what the word had meant, but I was sure it was an insult of great magnitude. Otherwise, Lion would not have reacted in such a manner if his life depended on it. Of course… I was pretty unsure about my opinion of him at this point in time.

After a short while, Lion escaped the fight barely scathed, though the boy was torn apart, wounds everywhere leaking fluids from his system.

As I watched, I was shocked to see that he bled, my disgust of him reaching an all-time high.

The miniature Mewtwo turned and high-tailed from the clearing, his better judgment finally kicking in.

He reached the forest and sat nearby the tree I was in, taking shaken breaths and sitting with his head lowered. A droplet of sweat fell to the Earth and he collapsed.

That, I'll admit, changed my view a bit. I looked back to the scene where Lion had spoken to him, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the little shrimp. The older Mewtwo simply walked away with a few bruises, being that the Mewtwo below me bore no claws. It was a rather unfair fight, and Lion had had a definite advantage over the scrawny child that had called him out.

I removed myself from the memory and found another, stepping onto this scene and watching again as Lion approached from the forest. This time, though, the young Mewtwo was asleep.

The older male stepped up and took the sword from the young boy's back, unsheathing it and tossing the scabbard aside. He pointed the blade low, the tip at the youth's neck. "Get up." He barked.

The small one's eyes flashed open and he slowly lowered the one that could see to where the blade rested on his scraggly neck.

"I said get up!" he repeated, stabbing lightly into the side of the boy's throat, avoiding the vital organs purposely.

The boy stood upon his hind legs, Lion slowly moving the blade evenly with his Adam's apple. "Now walk." He hissed.

The small boy took a few hesitant steps, but obeyed. His life was on the line, and I knew he had too much pride to lose it.

About ten feet from the point they'd met, the youth looks back. "You're holding it in the wrong hand, old man."

Lion poked his back for speaking. "Keep moving, rat."

"It's a left-handed sword, numbskull." He continued, after turning his head back forward. "You're obviously not."

"Silence!" he roared, cutting across his lower back.

The boy staggered forth, clearly not used to taking this magnitude of abuse. Though this time, he held his tongue.

They reached a cliff, steep enough to be considered vertical, and deep enough to be considered a canyon. A river flowed calmly among the jagged rock floor.

The youth came to a halt at the edge and stood stubbornly. "What, you're going to push me off a cliff?" he demands defiantly.

Lion slashed his back again.

He ground his fangs and whipped around, the blade automatically heightened to his throat once more.

"Walk!" Lion commands.

"I'll die first." The boy snarled, knocking the sword away with his hand, sacrificing a bit of pain for his life.

A fight erupted once more, and the little boy was at twice the disadvantage as the last instance. The fight turned for the worst so far as the small boy was concerned, and he tried once again to run for his life.

This time didn't work.

He stoutly kicked Lion's broken leg, clearly severing it once more, and turned to run. Lion seemed blinded by pain, but grasped the blade in his hand and thrust it forth, using the skill of a professional swordsman.

Through the abdomen of the youth, the sword pierced, half in, half out of his torso. The front portion of the blade glowed vivid red with the blood covering it. It could be plainly seen, even from my distance, jutting out his front.

He seemed to cough, spit flying from his mouth, and he fell to his knees, catching his front half with his hands and shaking enough that he fell to the ground.

Lion strained to stand, face flushed red and cast an off-mahogany color, the neon blood mixing with his fluorescent green wraps. He limped over to the young male and took one look at him, lying soundly. His expression, a victorious smile.

Within seconds, though, the smirk faded and his eyes grew solemn, shining guiltily. He shakes his head, brow furrowed. "What have I done?" he whispers, walking over and wrenching the weapon from the boy's spine.

The youth was not dead yet, however, and tried once more to push himself to his feet. He used his violently shaking arms to hoist his upper half to a certain level and pulled his feet under him.

Lion watched him with a dumbfounded expression, his eyes wide as they'd ever gotten, and sweats. "You shouldn't do that!" he shouted, face clearly dripping concern.

"Quiet!!" the boy explodes, blood leaking more openly from his deep wound.

"You'll only die faster! Now lie down and don't talk! I might be able to help." he suggests, changing his viewpoint quite abruptly.

"I don't need you to help me!" he argues, pushing up his back end and falling back to the ground, in a puddle of his own blood. "It's too late for that."

"My… my old friend." Lion stuttered in a whisper, watching the boy bleed. Only I seemed to have caught the dialogue, because the boy still attempted to stand.

"Get out of my sight before I tear you apart, you damn bleeding-heart!!" the young male roared, actually managing to push himself to his short limbs, weakly approaching Lion, his blood dripping from his wound as well as the spot he lay in it.

The older male fled quickly as he could and the boy splattered into his bloody pool once again, eyes clenching shut upon his landing.

Next, my part came. I arrived into the memory, as a young child, and it seems that the boy had died, because the scene drew a blank.

I was shocked by this, not expecting any sort of event such as the one I'd seen before me. I'd seen the look in Lion's eyes just as he took the sword from the young boy's back, his pleading terror upon seeing the face of, apparently, an old friend.

I didn't know which one I was more sympathetic toward. The small one had to die, but Lion had to kill him.

I escaped and found myself staring into the hearth, watching the flames in the fireplace dance eerily. My expression seemed to have changed, because Jonathan was staring at me worriedly.

"Are you well?" he asked, brow furrowed and platinum eyes shining. "You seem to have been in pain for the last ten minutes."

I shook my head finally. "No, I'm alright, just thinking a bit too deeply." I answered in a bit more of a snap than I'd intended.

He looked down after his recoil, shoulders hunched and back in an arch.

_"Yes, you've been unusually quiet for a long while."_ The Mewtwo told me accusingly, staring at me.

_"I was thinking." _I responded, using the same alibi every time as a smarter alternative than making up several.

_"Indeed."_ He sneered.

I shook my head and set off into another room. My moments inside the mind of the killer would live with me till the end of my days, and haunt me for a good deal of them… what shocked me most, though, was the will the boy had had when he was dying… how he stood, even when he knew his life was over. That was truly inspiring, and I knew not what to think of him now. A courageous fool or an arrogant child…

Once everyone had gone to bed, I remained on the couch, lying longwise from head to foot, each end resting on the handles.

I lowered my eyelids, and as the blackness consumed my consciousness. My dreams that night were of what I saw the night before. The horrific death of the young killer still plagued my mind, and his sheer spirit amazed me. His will to live still surprised me, though I knew him well already.

As well as I ever would, anyway.

I sat up abruptly and looked around the room to find R-K and Kai staring at the same target, inside the doorway to the room, it seemed. I turned my attention to the thing they were watching with menacing glares, and morphed, allowing the boy assassin to leap back and face the Houou in the door.

Ganna and Kasumi now stood aside the killer, and the Houou took a glance down at him. "Quite the interesting choice of mercenaries." He muttered, cocking a brow at the boy. "Especially the deadbeat Mewtwo."

"Deadbeat!?" he repeated furiously. His toes and fingers rolled in preparation, and his tail swirled agitatedly.

"Calm yourself." Kasumi barked at him, turning back and curling a lip threateningly toward the hawk.

"Well, we certainly do have a lovely mistress for being a fighter." He complimented, flipping his brows. "I'm surprised you're hanging around with these riffraff…"

She backed toward the two boys. "These 'riffraff' as you call them, are my friends." She growled, fur rising. "And, I'll say, I've grown rather attached since our first meeting."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to die with them, then." He informed her.

"You sound as though you care." Kasumi sneered, siding with the boy and the old Golbat in any instance.

His feathers ruffed and he gave a bitter look to the cat that stood beside her. "You would prefer a one-eyed scratching post to a class act?"

His eyes flared dangerously. "What was that!?"

"You're obviously not a well-rounded fighter, boy. You appear to have lost every scrabble you've ever been in, and I would hate to have that obstructive mooneye of yours."

The expression crossed over the assassin's face could not have been more furious as he stood upon his hind limbs, drawing his weapon from the sheath on his back. He charged blindly and took back his blade, sweeping upward into the flesh of the bright hawk, sending a bloody gash up his front.

As the bird fell to the floor in a muddled heap, the boy re-sheathed his weapon quietly and stepped away. "No one calls me Mooneye and lives." Came his sleek voice, uttered in a quiet hiss.

Many stared upon him. His menacing aura seemed to ward off the others from him. The fire that made him famous as a killer burned wildly in his eyes, and appeared to emanate from within him as he returned to the other two fighters.

Jonathan had been watching the entire ordeal, and turned pale when the Houou was slaughtered. Sensitive to the harm of birds, he seemed.

Personally, I'm moreso a fan of felines.

He shuddered violently and leaned against his counter, looking to his Pidgeot with the broken wing that sat beside him. Suddenly, his expression grew harsh. "I want to learn to fight." He announced without warning.

"So, you do?" the killer questioned nonchalantly.

"More than anything!" he answered, with a sort of defiant plead to his voice. "I want to be able to defend myself for once… to not have to run away or stand back and watch someone fight my battles for me."

"Well, the kid has some spirit." The youth Mewtwo compliments, tail swirling in front of him. "So, you want to learn to fight, eh? That may take years. Though if you can improve on your own, all you need to do is transform."

"Could you tell me how?" John demanded, glasses falling down the bridge of his nose.

"Sure, whatever. I feel better now that I have my revenge." He explains, standing. "All you need to do is concentrate. Imagine being a Pidgeot, and you'll become one. Seeing as you're a Pidgeot anthro anyhow."

Jonathan nodded and began to morph, his glasses still left on his hooked beak after he was through. He set them atop the counter with a talon and flapped into the rest of the room, a born-natural at flying.

Ganna watched him as he flew and landed near the doorway, atop the corpse of the Houou. "We should be able to reach the lower levels now. We could head downstairs, if you wish."

He jettisoned into the hall and stopped using his massive wingspan. "Let's go! It's been ages since I've seen the outside!"

The others tailed him as he led the way down the stairs gladly. Ganna trailed him, Kasumi after Ganna, and the boy following up the rear. He didn't seem to mind the idea of being backup.

They entered the ground floor and to no surprise whatsoever, more henchmen awaited them.

"Quite the little army he's got, ne?" Kasumi questioned.

"Indeed." The small Mewtwo added upon catching a glance of the opponents inside the room.

A Raichu, Charizard, Lugia, and Tauros stood before them.

"You!" the boy commanded, pointing at the Pidgeot Jonathan now was. "Take out the Lugia. Kasumi, the Tauros. Ganna, the Charizard." He looked back to the Raichu. "I'm the only one agile enough to take you on."

They all approached their challengers and attacked, either leaping or rising into the air.

Ganna spent no time in dawdling, being the first to remove his opponent. All it had taken was a swift kick to the head and the Charizard blacked out.

Next, Kasumi and the Tauros circled each other, and the Tauros reared, attempting to stomp, being interrupted by the wild lass head-butting him over. He seemed to not want to stay down, though, and stood again, charging. Kasumi again intercepted his attack and leapt atop his back sinking her dagger fangs into his thickly furred neck. Death overcame the bull and it fell to the earth no longer living.

Jonathan seemed more troubled with his opponent, being six times his size, but he had the advantage of being able to move wherever he wanted. We'll say that the room wasn't fit to hold a Lugia and leave it at that.

A stray thunderbolt struck the giant white bird from the spitfire duel between the two smaller combatants. They both had their speed and dexterity, but neither could deliver a good hit. The electric mouse was missing the correct build to even attack well, and the youth, scrawny and skeletal, lacked proper muscle to make his hits count worth much.

Once the Lugia was down, the Raichu followed it.

"Well, that was certainly invigorating." The boy commented through a stretch. "Let's head out. I'm bored already."

John seemed ecstatic about the idea of going outside. We all gathered and returned to our half-human states, stepping outside for a bit.

A drizzle of rain fell upon our heads as we stepped into the yard.

"I hate rain." Kai #2 complained, covering her head with her bat-like wings.

John smirked. "It's not as bad as—" he was cut off as a bolt of lightning struck and the thunder rolled.

Kai froze and shuddered. "Lightning… yeah."

John lowered his head. "We flying-types are kind of… sensitive to lightning."

"Indeed." I sneered, arms crossed. "I rather like it. Of course, I control it."

Another bolt of lightning struck and the two—bird and bat—took off running.

I shrugged and the rain began to pour. "Cats hate rain." I explained, taking off after them.

R-K just followed, not having any real complaints.

John skidded to a halt just before a road and was knocked into by Kai. I tripped over her and took R-K's shirt, pulling her down with me.

Though next I knew, I wasn't in the world of reality. It was filled with bright colors and peace signs, flowers and positive subliminal messages.

I was in hell!!!

I waited out the dreaded horror, as "It's a Small World" played again and again in the background. If ever I went to hell, this would be it… small flashy penguins danced about and slowly stole my sanity.

Suddenly, it all went black… sweet, sweet silence.

"Kae!" R-K snapped, slapping me.

"What!? I'm awake!!" I told her, catching her hand and shoving it back at her. "What'd I miss?"

"Well, I don't know. You were unconscious for about six hours." She informed me annoyedly, giving me a perturbed glare.

I felt around on my head and noted a soft, warm spot that felt rather liquid and stung when I touched it. "Oh, I hit something, didn't I?"

"A rock." R-K added.

"I see." I muttered, looking around the cave I was evidently in. I noted the regulars, but another person sat nearby. She smiled and waved when I took note of her presence.

"You see, Aurora here was tying her shoe in the road and we all tripped. You hit your head on a rock, the Mewtwo kid took you here and well, we've been in this little cave waiting out the storm." Kai explained.

"Why'd you guys run away from the castle anyway?" I asked of them.

"See lightning, run real fast." John told me. "Doesn't matter which direction."

"Ah."

"So yeah, here we are." Aurora input, still smiling.

"And why were you tying your shoe in the road?" I asked her, as the first choice of words that came to mind.

"How was I supposed to know you guys were here? I just needed to tie my shoe and happened to be in the road." She said, looking outside as the rain died down at last.

"We can go back to the castle now…" I suggested indirectly, standing again.

"This guy needs to pay." John snarled, following suit.

"You've alot of spirit. Just don't ruin it." Kai input, walking out of the cave after us. Her wings flapped once to shake the water off.

R-K and Aurora trailed us, conversing casually with one another.

Once we returned to the inside of the ground floor, Jonathan directed us toward another descent of stairs.

_"Great, more stairs." _The boy whined, as we stepped into the narrow corridor.

_"You sound ecstatic." _I taunted.

_"I hate stairs."_

_"You hate everything!"_

_"I know." _He retorted, a demonic grin splayed across his young face.

Eventually, the lot of us tired from walking down stair after stair, and we morphed from human to the monsters that occupied a large space of our being.

Once we reached the basement floor, the ground stretched endlessly into the darkness, casting most of the room into heavy shadow. An eerie sense of foreboding overtook the lot of us, and the assassin boy snorted audibly.

"Well, this was worth the trip!" he sneered in his sleek, yet growling vocals, annunciating to any in the darkness and hearing his words echo from the cavernous space before him.

"Indeed, my young friend." A silky utterance cut through the silence returned to him as two Houndoom ventured forth from the shadow, and a pair of light brown eyes shimmered in the low light. "It was well worth your time and effort."

"Who are you!?" Kasumi demanded of the entity, in a harsh bark, contrasting her normally shockingly luring voice.

"I am but a mere opposition to all that is good, my lass." The answer came, as a few shuffling paw pads could be distinguished. "A force against righteousness and serenity. A destroyer of peace and tranquility."

"And what reason have you to do such a thing?" Ganna demanded in disgust.

"For what good has done to me, old man." His sneer answered, glittering fangs borne in warning. "'Tis a long story, though I will tell it if it is thy wish to hear."

The boy took a step forward. "We've no time for this! It's war we came here for, not some tea party!"

A figure approached from the shadow, and an exact replica of the boy approached him, upon two short, scarred legs, waving his mutilated tail. "Well, I'm terribly sorry to waste your time, _Shiro_, but this is a discussion, not idle chit-chat." He spat in the face of the young killer, stepping back and turning away, reassuming his niche in the shadows.

The boy's mismatched eyes flared. "How." Came his demand, in a tone of sheer loathing, a deep inclination of his already darkened words.

"How… what, exactly?" the villain inquired nonchalantly, in the calmest of response, I was sure enjoying every moment.

"You knew my name." he hissed, his heart beating almost in stopped time.

"Why of course, my boy. I know more than just your name." echoed the calm response from the insidious dark shadow.

Kasumi averted her attention to him, curious as she always was. "Shiro's your name?" she inquired in a soft mutter.

"Damnit! I've told you to never say my name!" he explodes. "My wretched title has been a curse upon all who speak it!"

"He speaks truth." The mysterious being added.

"You stay out of this!!" he demanded, bloodshot eyes proving their point.

"Temper, temper, little boy. You must learn to control that nasty habit you have of losing your patience."

"_I told you to stay _out of this!!!" he roared, charging blindly forth into the darkness and ramming the Houndoom aside as they obstructed his path.

Shiro was flung back, however, upon reaching the dark master. He landed squarely upon his broad shoulders, skidding back and dropping to the floor. He turns around and steps up to his four limbs, hobbling uncomfortably back to where he once stood.

"Well, child, you certainly have alot of bravery, you belligerent fool." The creature from the darkness announced, in the abnormally silken voice he possessed. "It will get you killed one day. You know this, ne?"

The boy, Shiro, gave him a murderous glare with his frightening façade, waving his tail in a smooth, fluid motion. His muscles tensed, though he didn't grow any, being scrawny and scraggly as he was.

"Well, then. I suppose I'll continue with my speech." The dark entity sneered. "I'll tell you why I'm a destroyer of lawfulness." There was a short pause before he continued. "I was a younger man, though still probably old compared to the lot of you with the exception of Ganna and Tobias."

"Tobias?" Kasumi repeated, her attention turning to the Pidgeot behind her. "Why is it that I never know anyone's name?"

"Though this includes several more of the members to this little force before I continue." He draws up a hand, still in the form of Shiro, and four Pokémon appear before us. A Charizard, Suicune, Houndoom, and Lugia.

The four looked around the dark room and saw the small force, noting the two Houndoom and the shadow from which the hand was shown.

Upon seeing Tobias and the Chansey that Aurora had become, the Suicune directed the others back toward them.

"Ah, yes. Tobias, Chance, Artemis, Raron, Venus, and Rhea." The ever familiar drawl greeted, gleaming fangs piercing the shadow. "My old _friends._"

"You again!?" Raron blared into the cavern of dark. "Show yourself, you bloody coward!!"

"Now, now, Raron. Aren't we a little old to be yelling like the boy who stands beside you?" the man questions.

Raron snaps his lizardian jaw toward Shiro, and notes the feline's hostility and anguish. He looks back to the foe. "You are a shapeshifter. Able to assume any form and remain unharmed once you do. Why have you chosen to take on the appearance of this boy?"

"He has a fighter's spirit, as well as a swordsman's. I found this very… assuring when I was choosing a form to reveal myself in." came his answer. "But now, since you mention it, away with this vulgar transformation. I would prefer a more _refined_ feline to be." He waved an arm and his fur became beige-tinged, whiskers grew from the face of the oddly-tinted cat. He fell to four legs and his paws spread, now more like those of an actual cat. A stout Persian paced before them.

"You call this refined?" Shiro spat in disgust.

"Moreso than you, horrific beast." He growled. "Though as I was still attempting to say; I fought these six in a battle nearly four decades ago, and had it not been for a sniveling damn that got in my way, I would've killed the lot of you! But I'm officially dead, as are the lot of you." He paused. "In fact, most of the deaths here were caused by young Shiro. Isn't that right, lad?"

Shiro adamantly said naught in his defense or offense.

"Kasumi, Rhea, Raron, Ganna, Venus, and Tobias, yes?" he questioned offhandedly.

"I see you've done your research." Shiro complemented, waving a hand. "Yes, the weapon of choice differed, but I did kill all of them."

Many vicious glares directed toward him as he so casually announced this for all to hear without so much as a fretful tone.

"And I see you bear no remorse. A fine quality in an assassin, but a rare sentiment for a child to possess." He looked around, a sinister glare to his eye. "Their indignation is evident, however you act as though all is well, boy."

"I've no fear, no pain, no sorrow. no solace, no conscience, no heart." He said, rather poetically. "Too many a time have I been broken or let down. Never again will I let it destroy me as it has before!"

"How inspiring, little Shiro." The Dark Lord sneered unenthusiastically.

Kasumi's harsh expression faltered and she shook her head. "He's nothing but a fool!" she demanded to herself. She looked back toward him. "A pitiful fool…" she added. "The poor boy."

Venus chanced a glance in Kasumi's direction. "He certainly has a way with words, does he not?"

"Hush!" she hissed in return, rather defensively. Her muzzle glowed a pale rosy pink.

Oddly, he'd heard their conversation, and he seemed less adamant of his decision that he had no heart as he noted that it began to race.

"I've come for my revenge, the six of you!" the Dark Lord announced, drawing them all forth and creating a force-field around the fight.

The three left outside of the glassy blockade soon noted that they weren't included, as Ganna attempted to peer inside and the assassins stared puzzledly.

"What the hell?" Shiro inquires, flicking the wall and seeing nothing but blank pearly silver.

"We can't see…" Kasumi muttered. "Ganna, what about you?"

"I see the fight, but can't penetrate the shield." He told her, glancing back with his amber-yellow eyes. "I've heard of this before."

"You have, have you?" the Arcanine repeated, narrowing her soft brow. "Tell me, Golbat, what have you heard?"

He looks back into the crystalline orb and stares at the battlers within. "Only the Mewtwo's claw is an item of opposite force as this. The pure-hearted may fight, the un-pure may watch, and the black-hearted may not see inside."

"Guess that rules us out, eh Kasumi?" Shiro joked sarcastically.

"I hear that."

Ganna glanced back again. "Well, going to take a stab at it?"

"At what, might I ask?" Shiro queries.

Ganna raised a brow at him. "Why, breaking the orb, of course." He chuckled momentarily. "Did you not hear me when I clearly said only a Mewtwo's claw could pierce the shield?"

Shiro held up his hand, staring annoyedly at Ganna. "Naturally de-clawed, I am, try to slice it I shall not."

Ganna stares blankly at him. "De-clawed? You, of all Mewtwo out there?"

"Since I was cloned." He barked in response. "Hence the reason I wield a sword." He shook his head and crossed his arms, leaning against the translucent wall.

Ganna sighed and returned to staring inside the force field.

Several boring hours passed and the Golbat gave grave updates to the fight going on between the six and the Dark Lord.

Upon the announcement that the last fighter had fallen, Shiro could bear no more, taking his fist and ramming it into the shield, palm and fingers first. He pulled his hand back in front of his face and staring at his hand, as the blockade had begun to dissolve. He turned his hand delicately in front of him, examining the serrated skin, and from the tips of his balled fingers came diamond, dagger-like protrusions sharp enough to shave hairs. He fell backward and caught himself with his hands, standing on his forefeet and looking to the others. "Well, who would've guessed? Let's go."

"Who indeed?" Ganna added, following him in the air as Kasumi tailed the two.

"Now, now, now… whom shall I have the pleasure of killing first?" the Dark Lord murmured to himself, pacing about the battlefield. He glances back and notes the presence of his shield missing. He cursed under his breath and disappeared.

Shiro lead the three onward, advancing slowly; taking his time and watching the scene around him carefully. In the corner of his eye, a green flash of fur appeared for but a split second and dissipated again.

Disbelievingly, he shook his head and continued forth.

Along the ground was the only level on which his fierce eyes did focus, though this was not tactically, nor was it directionally intelligent.

I figured I should offer my advice.

_"You might want to look up, Shiro." _I hinted, warily keeping an eye out for anything and everything, myself.

"I told you not to utter my name, human!" he snarled, short pelt standing on end. "But as to your suggestion, I say this: what could possibly come from the ceiling?"

Again, a flash of different color glistened from within the shadows by light of a flame running down the back of the beast.

He was somewhat fascinated by the odd horse, and the moment he took to chance a curious stare at it was the moment he was brought to the cold floor.

He fell to the ground and rolled, snapping to his feet once more, and waved his tail in agitation. He growled into the darkness and noted a Persian sleekly stalking the area around him. He gave a dangerous glare as the small cat paced before him.

"You imposter!" he spat, noting a trickle of blood oozing down his brow. "You play the part of a Persian well as a Sunflora plays a Charizard!"

"Well, you seem to know that I'm not really a Persian." The Dark Lord sneered in return. "What gave you that indication, boy?"

"I read anatomy books, I study the creatures around me. Persians are the least tactical Pokémon I've seen, and that move you pulled would take the brain of a Dragonite, at least."

"A clever little hindrance you are." The shapeshifter complements, backing into the darkness again. "If you really think you can take me on, I have a few tests for you."

"Oh, _grand_, this'll be a hell of a trip." Shiro mocked, batting the lavender orb that could be distinguished as an actual eye. "Bring forth the challenger, then."

"Not just _a_ challenger, Shiro." Came the menacing drifting of devastating dialogue.

He stood boldly upon his stout legs, and watched as his challenger approached.

An Umbreon stood before him, an Onix slithering in before Kasumi, and the electric-type Lionell, a massive creature evolving from Raikou, slowly strutted toward Ganna.

"Face; your enemy." The Dark Lord taunted from afar, hiding amongst the darkness that he always seemed to loom in.

"You call this," Shiro waved a hand in mockery at the small dog. "My enemy?" he demanded furiously. "I've killed literally _hundreds _of Umbreon in my time!"

"Indeed." Kasumi added, leering the Onix down.

"But that is not the point, young Shiro." The looming voice told him, as the Umbreon attacked.

With one swift claw swipe to the black dog's throat, it was killed, and Shiro sat, watching the others fight.

Kasumi soon took the Onix down, and joined Shiro with naught but a bit of frazzled fur out of line. She sat almost a foot from him, and noting that it seemed awfully close, she scooted a few inches away.

He appeared not to mind, however, and calmly watched the Lionell back Ganna into a corner. A tiny smirk played across his lashed face as the tiny Golbat began to shiver, almost awaiting his utter demise with no fight left in him.

Kasumi shoved the small boy forward. "Ganna's one of us, remember? Go help him."

Shiro snorted back at her, and though his expression remained in the near-constant perturbed state, he seemed teasing rather than angry.

The Lionell's ears perked and it looked back, whiskers in the shape of lightning bolts twitching at the scent of the boy. Instantly, its brow narrowed and its fangs were borne toward the young tom.

Automatically, he countered by his short fur ruffling and his claws seeping forth from the ball-shaped fingertips of a Mewtwo. He curled a lip threateningly as the larger cat strutted toward him, indicating a challenge.

Shiro _never_ declines a challenge.

He coiled and the two leapt, clashing teeth and claws. Shiro being the smaller combatant, he was running circles about the large beast. From literally nowhere, the boy sprang forth and latched his knifelike claws into the back and neck of the oversized housecat.

A corruptive laugh echoed through the room. "Good show my boy, but we'll see if you can handle yet another challenge."

"Do your worst." He retorted in a low hiss.

"Alright, then." The Dark Lord said sportingly. "Now you face yourself."

Shiro's confidence silently wavered, though his emotions showed for naught upon his still maw.

A copy of the three warriors emerged from the shadow, and Ganna stared this one down fearlessly, knowing himself better than he could know another beast.

"I say, this should be interesting." The evil Lord muttered delightedly.

The two bats fought instantly, and both Kasumis charged head-on, but the Shiro merely stood, and drew his blade calmly.

The real Shiro reacted and mimicked the copy, unsheathing his loyal weapon and staring the fake down with a menacing gaze, empty and cold as a funeral drum.

The clone held his stance and charged, while the real one awaited his arrival, standing with his sword at rest. Though once he was within striking distance, the blade had been at the ready before you could blink.

A vicious swordfight erupted in the center of the two quarrelling fights between two bats and a cat…dog…cat…eh… well, it was a fight.

The copy Ganna was taken out quickly, as the original was endowed with experience, whilst his opponent was only given youth. The clones of the challengers seemed to be at their prime, while the real ones had nothing against them but experience. So more than likely, Ganna and Kasumi's clones were quite young. Though Shiro's copy seemed the exact age he was, down to the last second. Both existed in the same time, so he was faced with a tougher challenge.

Ganna sat near the wall, the efforts of the fight draining him, having always been an old Golbat even before he died, and watched as Shiro and Kasumi fought their clones.

Shiro clashed swords with the copy and shook with the force of holding it. Though he fought for only a moment before ducking and stabbing through the phony. He stood and glanced over to his left, meaning he had to turn his head.

One Kasumi held the other to the ground and seemed to press only harder, knowing she would win.

Shiro's brow narrowed and he practically leapt atop the Kasumi holding the other. With a stab in the back by the bloodstained sword he possessed, the Arcanine fell and the other stood sourly.

"I could've handled that, Shiro." Kasumi protested, shaking herself off and rubbing her throat sorely.

"I'm sure, the way you were 'handling' things a few seconds ago." He sneered in return, though not with his usual tone. He sheathed his trusted weapon.

She stepped toward him and glared, slowly raising a claw to his throat. He returned the alien sentiments by setting his blade at her neck. "You want to run that by me again?" she demanded.

"Yeah. _I saved your life._" He said, rather slowly.

"Why." Came her inquiry, not so much a question as it was a demand.

He lowers his blade. "Why let such a pretty face go to waste?"

She stepped back and her paw landed on the ground, her nose faint red.

He chuckled and set his sword in the case, sitting back where he'd fought his clone. "Now what, Mr. High-and-Mighty?" he shouted smugly into the darkness.

"Now, my boy, you face your worst fear." Came the sinister reply, as three figures approached from the shadow.

A Raizard approached Ganna, upon its hind limbs as always, lizard-like maw clenched together as it sniffed the air gently, staring down at the Golbat excitedly with its fierce violet eyes. The beast was a hybrid, bearing traits of both Raichu and Charizard, though looking the part of neither. Surely it had wings and a flaming tail that was very Charizard-like, and Raichu ears and stripes, but the entire beast by itself could never be said to be either.

Another clone of each fighter approached Shiro and Kasumi, each looking the exact same, though instead of injury, they bore a belligerent pride, a superior air surrounded them as they advanced toward the warriors.

"So you fear yourself?" Kasumi questioned edgily. "I see we have something in common, boy."

"Hold whatever thought you have, and we'll speak later." He responded warily, taking a cautious step back from the clone.

"How monotonous." The Dark ruler mumbled upon seeing the two challengers rise again. "Well, if one fears himself, there's nothing I can do."

All the fighters exploded into a furious fight, and a few moments passed before something was noticed. The clones this time not only fought like the original, but could think like the original.

Shiro's swordsmanship availed him not, as the clone could counter his every attack without fail. Less conventional methods soon dawned upon him.

_"If I don't kill it, I'll be killed." _He rushed to say, in the midst of the fight.

_"Of course, but remember, that clone doesn't have the brainpower of two." _I hinted, making the scene a bit more optimistic.

_"No, more like the brainpower of three. Try: I'm a fucking genius, here!"_

_"Alright, we have the power of four, then! Think!! Or do I have to do that for you?"_

He dodged the clone's attacks as we discussed this, and he formed a plan. _"Alright, human. Obviously, sword fighting's getting me nowhere."_

_"When'd you figure that one out, Castillo!?" _I retorted. _"Use your battling attacks. You're a Mewtwo, you should have some!"_

_"Battling? You mean between two Pokémon?"_ he queried, taking a deep hit to the shoulder.

_"Of course, you ninny!"_

_"Don't ever call me that again."_

_"Well, you get the idea, Shiro!"_

He took focus upon the fight and shot flame at the copy of himself, catching it off-guard and causing it to singe.

The copy shook his head and the two both thought of the same attack, two pillars of fire joining and exploding, knocking them both backward.

The original Shiro groaned as he arose to his feet, and the copy snapped up with energy to spare.

"Shit." Shiro cursed, watching through his good eye as the clone approached. His stance remained adamant, because the boy is widely known as one to never back away from a fight. His stagnant motion became more and more obtrusive as the battle tarried on, and his will did not agree with his body as he chose to stand his ground at the very least, and his muscles ached stingily with his efforts.

The clone soon seemed to be showing signs of fatigue as well, though was as stubborn as the real one, and would not go down without someone royally flattening him to the earth.

To out-class this Mewtwo, one would need a K.O. punch.

The clone took another hit as the original swept upward with his diamond claws, and the pain caused was well-evident upon the agony-stricken air surrounding him. He fell to a three-point stance and struggled to rise again to his upright goal.

Taking advantage of his sluggish advances, the real Shiro fell to his four limbs and tackled the clone, stained claws sinking into the already blood-riddled skin. He lunged forth and bit the scrawny neck in his jaws, and the clone vanished, causing him to topple over and tumble forth.

Kasumi, who'd finished off her own opponent, hobbled over and sat nearby, overlooking the boy. "You alright, kiddo?"

His brow narrows warningly and he attempts feebly to roll over. "Don't call me that… if anything, call me by my name, now that you're all damned anyway."

"Okay, I'll do that." She assured with a nod as the two watched the Raizard approach Ganna, looming far over the tiny bat with a shadow cast into the farthest reaches of the room.

The two watch the great lizard charge electric sparks and approach from behind. They exchanged glances and sprang forth to slay the beast.

Once through with their shameless deed, they returned to the line of fire where the Dark Lord had awaited them. "I see you've mastered my challenges." He offered, pacing before them.

"You seem to like testing us." Shiro agreed, looking to the other two. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Kasumi nodded and Ganna input his own agreement.

"Well, it seemed to be hardly a challenge, the way you still stand before me with strength enough to remain arrogant as you are."

"Arrogant?" he repeated. "Or prideful?"

"No, my boy, you are quite arrogant, let me assure you." the Dark Lord muttered, shaking his head.

In the back of the room, though, a Houndoom was watching them slyly. The former bodyguard for the false Persian was listening in and all the time seemed to be studying the four.

"Arrogance is bragging, my dim-witted foe. Self-pride is simply being too haughty." He explained, smirking. "I dare not brag, lest I wish to gain more enemies."

"I hope you know, boy, that everyone you've ever met still holds you in contempt!"

"I hold _myself_ in contempt." He hissed. "Why are they any different?"

The shapeshifter recoiled upon Shiro's response. "Interesting." Was all the Persian Lord could manage to mutter in response.

A silent moment passed and a moan echoed from the back of the room where the six competitors lay deadly still upon the cold floor.

All four heads of the fighters snapped around to the groaning voice, and Artemis coughed painfully. "You shan't win, Persian!"

"I've won against you, but these three shouldn't be a problem. What makes you think I won't succeed?" he sneered in return, curling his black lip and flicking his whiskers. His tail waved stiffly in agitation.

He raised his head in great anguish and his rose eyes flared open. "You didn't win the last time. She brought you to tears, you slug!"

"Bringing this up again, Artemis?" he growled. "I'm telling you, she's dead! She killed herself slaying me the first time!"

"She?" Shiro repeated, cocking a thick brow.

Artemis rose and quivered violently. "It was near forty years ago, and we had faced this same entity then as we are now. We clearly lost fruitlessly and were about to meet our doom when a great mare approached, a sky blue pelt lined with a gleaming underbelly approached from the dark shadows. A pair of steel gray eyes shone mysteriously as she spoke in verse:

"'Exuberant Nitro, this is my form. My title is Wildfire, Heart of the Storm.' She declared with the most enthusiasm ever heard from a warrior so true. 'Back away now, lest you suffer misjudgment, my immanent victory opposed to lament.'" The Suicune told them, quoting perfectly, as though he'd done nothing but memorize the sentences his every day living. "The Lord sent his minions to oppose her, but she tore them limb from limb. After taking out his henchmen, she approached the Dark Lord himself.

"'Prepare yourself, I am no fool, for I will make you see. The only way you'll ever rule is if you defeat me.' She announced, clearly enough that there would be no doubt of a challenge. The two entered a fierce battle as the six of us recovered." He continued. "After their extended fight, competing for their very lives, Wildfire had seen that she wouldn't win. She turned to us a moment. 'I'll never win, my time is short, and I must say goodbye. To Yosho, Dilandau, Surinam, as I prepare to die.'" Artemis bowed his head. "She charged into battle and reared, pounding her hooves into the ground, self-destructing and leaving us in the castle with the corpse of the shapeshifter."

The false Persian snarled and spat upon the ground. "I remember it precisely, Artemis, but I thank you for bringing it up!"

"My fondest pleasures, you leech." He hissed, teetering to one side and falling. He chuckled heartily as he landed with a dusty thud.

"I say, my boy you tell my tale as though you know the norm. One thing I know you realize, that Nitro is my form." Came a sweet voice, as a beauty of a horse entered, gray eyes shimmering sympathetically and tail, so black that it shone eerily in the low light, waving as she took a dainty step into the light. Shining gunmetal blades jutted from her slim ankles and slender hocks, one latched to the tip of her tail. Another resided upon her feminine muzzle and two hung in midair while attached to her leaf-like ears. Two dragon wings sat atop her broad back, of an orange hue scale. Her pelt, a sky tinge with a faded-into-white underside, glittered oddly and enhanced her rippling muscle.

"You again!?" the Dark Lord demanded, short, coarse fur standing on edge. "I thought I was rid of you when you destroyed the two of us forty years ago!"

"Never, fiend from times long past. You clearly misconceive. I am a goddess, so I'm told, and ne'er shall I deceive." She told them.

"Must you speak in verse?" Shiro queried, scratching at his ear.

"Aye, my raven, lonely one, a poem I always speak. And I commend your tendency to turn the other cheek." She smiled wryly at him saying such.

He approached the Dark Lord with one confident step and snorted his sarcastic huff. "So what-say ye, oh Dark Lord of terror? Shall you challenge the lot of us now, or save Wildfire as a last resort if we don't suffice?"

"Quite overconfident, aren't we, boy?" the Persian inquired. "I'll take you out and finish that wretched damn later."

"Confident, indeed, but overconfident, I think not." He snapped, yellowed fangs borne in warning.

The Persian hissed in a quite catlike manner, curling his nose in disgust. "Upstart is more like it." He snarled in a villainous inclination of voice, rolling his paws and puffing his chest uncertainly.

Shiro smiled devilishly and leapt, tumbling end-over-end with the Dark Persian and winding up in a ferocious brawl. Eventually, the Persian knocked the youth aside and took on Kasumi and Ganna while Wildfire assisted the six fighters in the back of the room.

In the heated match, the three warriors were slaughtered and all landed painfully on the stone floor.

"Now, now… which one shall I _kill_ first?" the Persian snarled, pacing about with the knowledge that none could retaliate against him, let alone stop his reign. "I've nothing against the Arcanine… the Golbat has given me no spite." He paused. "One of the six? Too easy." He shook his head and suddenly halted in his tracks. "Ah, yes… the boy.

"You, my lad, have given me the most trouble in all my years, you sad, pathetic excuse for a fighter." He hissed in Shiro's face. "You, my unfortunate misfit, cursed with the life of the black widow, shall be put out of your misery." He ended with a raised claw. The entire paw glowed white and he suspended it in still animation, savoring every last second.

Until who should interrupt but the only battler at the moment that was un-incapacitated. Wildfire tackled him away from his target, but the Dark Lord would not let his chance slip away. He leapt back, and, right paw still shining an off-white color, he sank his claws into and down Shiro's chest with one of his oddly muscular forelimbs.

By this time, Wildfire had bashed him aside using her spikes that momentarily dribbled blood. Her fangs were borne in bloodlust and she tightened her stance. "You've crossed the line, my bitter foe, your victory is for naught, for I shall murder thee this night, allow your corpse to rot."

He coiled and leapt with not a word, and the two battled endearingly. Neither side would spare an inch of effort fighting for their right of way, and Wildfire was doing such to give Shiro as much time as possible. As she had seen his vicious pain upon receiving the slash down his torso, watched him writhe in agony a few moments fighting his organs that told him to die.

She erupted into a whirlwind of attacks, deciding the fate of the fight for but a moment, and chanced a worried gaze to the boy, struggling to breathe through the fluids leaking from as well as into his lungs. With her distraction, the Persian knocked her to the ground, stepping onto her throat.

"So, you thought you'd win, eh, Wildfire?" the cocky cat taunted, growing closer to her face by the moment.

She glared with a murderous glint to her once alluring eyes as she took in her hind legs and sent the small cat sailing into a nearby wall. She regained her four-hoofed stance and approached Shiro. By now, the other warriors had awoken and did the same as she had.

"Poor kid! This is my fault!" she muttered, turning him onto his back.

She received strange looks from several fighters.

"What, now I have to speak verse every time I open my stinking trap?" she demands of them.

A few shook their heads, but others just looked back to Shiro.

"We'll need someone to carry him out of here." She takes a quick look around. "Tobias can't… Ganna can't… Raron could, Rhea could, but I can't…" she glanced to Rhea. "You alright with taking him?"

She refuses gently. "I'm sensitive to blood." She explained, looking away the entire time.

"I'm taking Chance." Raron input, shaking his head. "There'd be no way for me to secure him."

"Tobias and Ganna are too small… My blades would only make his injuries worse…" she turned to Kasumi. "Ah, yes, the flighty Arcanine, I daresay. Would you take him back to where we're headed?"

She nodded quickly, sprouting wings and turning away from the others so they could set him upon her back.

"You don't have to do this…" Shiro's hoarse insert rumbled through his thick blood and cracking voice.

"Don't be stupid, Shiro. Yes, I do." She told him, looking back into his face.

He moaned. "I can take care of my—" he muttered, not finishing his last word.

"I'm sure you can." She sneered playfully.

"Now, we'll have to hurry to get out of here." Wildfire rushed to tell the others. "If I know that pyromaniac, he'll explode."

"Explosions aren't good." Ganna muttered in his hoarse voice.

"So let's get out of here!" Wildfire exclaims, bashing a hole through the side wall and evacuating the rest of them. The moment she'd stepped out of the hole, a massive detonation occurred, shoving her forth and giving her an easy lead of the team.

"Alright, the lot of you, follow me!" she commanded as they pierced through the night in the form of a flock of geese, Wildfire's massive downbeat lifting the others higher with less effort.

Jonathan watched anxiously as his castle was falling to the Earth below. The Pokémon that had been in the upper levels evacuated the building seemingly seconds before the entire building came crashing down. Our teams were smart enough to escape on their own, hence our reasoning that we need not worry about them. Shadow seemed to be the only one that leapt from the top floor to the ground and ran, rather than flying or getting a lift. The landing was easy, even for the older Mewtwo.

We momentarily returned to Japan, entering the closer of the two locations we could've gone, my facility. Underground were several chambers, one a Laboratory, having a scientist for a sister, another part of our Gym, and yet another, a medical sub-facility. There was our destination.

They lay Shiro atop the metal table in the front of the room, the very same one I'd used when I'd first found him to set him upon so I would be able to reach my partner, being that I was seven years old then.

All eyed him warily as several went to fetch gauze and various other wraps so they could mend the young boy.

"A few useful tips…" Wildfire input to assure them, "1. A Mewtwo has a rather slow heartbeat to begin with. 2. They are able to live a short while without a heartbeat at all. 3. He has a piercing line down each of his lungs and a much deeper one through his heart. The pain he feels now is probably worse than any of you have ever endured. 4. The last thing a Mewtwo ever does before it dies is use its last ounce of strength to hold up its tail. They are a highly prideful race, and will show their endurance to all before they really die."

"The warning signs are quite clear." Lion added quietly. "But Wildfire, how did you know that in the first place?"

She smiled. "I read master's documents. She's found out quite a bit more than people seem to realize."

"Still, we should get a heart monitor. He could slow at any time and all we have to wait for is him to fight it." Lion said still further, knowing the boy's spirit better than any there.

"But what if he dies?" Lionell inquired apprehensively, clearly concerned.

"He won't." the once silent Kasumi demanded. "I know he won't."

Alot of voices that had been murmuring before silenced and watched.

As they attached him to the machine, all were dead quiet and observed intently. The little beeps of the medical contraption echoed into the room as they all simply stared at Shiro, surveying him in sheer unease; it's very difficult to watch a person die.

Within a few hours of their uncomfortable examination as he simply proved to them that he could breathe, the beeping of the machine began to slow. Shiro's breaths hung in the air as he struggled to stay alive, nearly dead as is from internal bleeding.

Slowly, the beats of his wounded heart faded, until the point of maybe one per three minutes. His tail rose, the efforts straining him from the look of it, and they all followed it until it froze. With this decided, the tip of the long purple appendage dropped as the last of his sluggish breathing halted.

There was a startled silence within the room for a moment, before a few hung their heads and others turned away. Lion turned to his wife and even shed a tear, being uncannily sensitive for a Mewtwo. Soon though, she was the one comforting him as he sobbed into her shoulder.

Even Kasumi bowed her own elegant maw softly, clear that she was not one to cry; though also apparent that she cared. Her sigh broke as she slowly inhaled, and she shunned the scene away, the first to attempt exit. "I can't take this!" she demanded as she deserted the sorrowed crowd. Several steps out, she found herself watering at the eyes and a crystalline bead fell onto the cold floor.

At that moment, without warning, a quick beep took the lot by surprise, and silence filled the room.

"What?" came Kasumi's questioning as she turned back her head swiftly. "It can't be… he was dead."

Nothing but an earsplitting silence answered them as they awaited further notice. Several seconds later, they were all shocked to hear another mechanical bleep. Shiro had appeared still, though his breaths were at that point tangible.

"He's back!?" Lion exclaimed, not knowing whether to question or state.

Shiro's left foot gave a tiny twitch and he rolled his head to the other side.

"Back from the dead!" the older Mewtwo finished, shocked and assured, turning fully around and wiping away his tears.

"Impossible." Kasumi states blankly, watching as the boy coughed and exerted a mouthful of vivid blood.

"Kasumi!" he barked in a gruff intonation of his normal voice, sounding like the old Mewtwo, Shadow. "Nothing's impossible!" he ended painfully, cringing and pushing himself into an upright sitting position. His violently shuddering arms held him in place as he pried open his eyes, staring at her. His expression remained emotionless, but his heartbeats clearly increased for all to hear.

She shook her head disbelievingly and smiled, glancing momentarily at the machine.

Shiro promptly took care of it. A forceful punch rid him of the embarrassing noise; and he pulled away his right fist as sparks shorted the device. He clenched his small fingers and a smirk splayed across the unseen side of his face.

"He's a fighter, he is." Lion added quietly, mainly to himself.

Shiro wavered a bit and his arms gave way, slamming his upper back against the table. He muttered softly "Ow."

That night they rested easily, knowing Shiro was alive. He was given special treatment for awhile because he'd begun to heal in record timing. His exploits proved this, and not only, but that he was a very mysterious child indeed.

**_End Chapter #1_**


	2. The next plot implement of the Shiro Sag...

**Chapter #2:                    What Happens When Nothing Really Matters?**

**This day marks the final day of Shiro's resting, in which I've had to _sit around and think_ for days upon days on end, back to back, continuously, and if I'm not already going far enough, monotonously! Yes, I'm bored, for all of you out there who don't get it as of this point.**

**So once Shiro could get back to the "meaningless life he lives," I could do the same. I would rejoice, but have already done that, hence my good mood.**

**I sat outside upon the chair I once used to, eyeing the newspaper over and heckling at the misfortune of others. Heartlessness is not a crime, I should say. Just look at where I am now, a master of Pok****émon, unanimous leader of the island on which I live, top Pokémon breeder, yadda, yadda, yadda, et cetera, et cetera. Indeed, my life tended to become awfully boring. There was nothing to achieve, no more goals to be reached. I was everything I wanted to be, and if I could do it again, I'd refuse! Nothing is more tantalizing than having to endure endless disgust of one's life in a paradox of imminent misery. And so another day drags on…**

**"Oh, they're hosting a tournament," I noted disdainfully, reminding myself only of how I never lost the pathetic dog-and-pony-shows they dared to call fights. "Yawn."**

**Shiro, who'd kept mostly to himself, nodded his maw in agreement. _"I watch. For about twenty seconds."_**

**"Lion could pay attention longer than I can bear to watch." I spat, closing the newspaper after scanning the comics page (the only thing I ever look for in the paper****J****). "And he has the attention span of a small rodent, no less."**

**_"Seems so, with how much alcohol that numbskull consumes in a day."_**** Shiro barked spitefully.**

**"Spitting upon Lion's reputation again?" I sneered warningly, brow narrowing.**

**He snorted annoyedly. _"That buffoon has a reputation?"_**

**"Indeed, Shiro, everyone does." I replied bitterly to his inquiry. "Though yours seems irreversibly tainted."**

**_"But I am a noted and respected historical figure. What of your precious Mewtwo?" _****he retorted with a natural drawling tone to his rather pesky voice.**

**"I'm sure he's made a name for himself, whether it be a well-known one or not." I desperately attempted to counter his valid point as he sat back and smirked, nodding as though humoring himself.**

**An awkward silent moment passed as I returned to the comic's page in the newspaper.**

**_"I'll enter that tournament." _****He offered quietly, picking at a giant scab along the back of his hand.**

**"You'll give them no meaning to their insufferably petty lives." I warned him, focusing on the black words splattered neatly across the page.**

**_"I find pleasure in such." _****He reminded, showing a bit of fang as he ended his sentence.**

**"Ah, I remember now."**

**Shiro nodded and assumed control, morphing into himself and scanning the periodical for a date and time. "Apparently, it begins tomorrow. That gives me a bit of time to prepare." He muttered.**

**Rising to his feet, he began to pace about, ending at the farthest reaches of the yard. He leapt over a fence and ventured into the woods behind the property, eventually wandering into the city.**

**A bustling place the city was, filled with people going about their daily lives. All seemed to be far too busy to pay him any mind, or chaos would've ensued. They passed him without so much as a glance, and he became caught in a crowd. His irritation clearly possessed his face, his gnarled lip curling dangerously and his peculiar, frightening eyes narrowed. He was shoved around and jostled insensitively, near buildings and places he'd never be seen normally. Eventually, his patience broke and he began to shove back, uncaring of what happened to those who were unfortunate enough to be in his path, if not chortling at their misfortune.**

**Without warning, though, an angry townsperson rammed into him, causing him to fall through a pair of doors into a building nearby.**** Landing on his back, he cursed the person and pulled himself to his feet. Looking around, he noticed a delicately detailed room, cavernous and echoing music with a familiar ring to it. All eyes were turned to him as he seemingly disappeared, slamming the doors shut behind him.**

**He sighed in relief, shaking his head and shuddering. "A church… eeeyergh." He shook his head and took a quick look at the outside of it, spitting upon the ground before it and walking away. "Atheist, I always wish to remain." Came his hissing statement as he made his way back into the crowd and walked amongst the city-folk. Occasionally, his thoughts would wander back to the creatures inside the church he'd fallen into, and he noticed that he'd spotted but one Mewtwo inside.**

**"Lion."**** He uttered quietly to himself. "Everywhere I go, that ignorant pussyfoot seems to be hanging about."**

**_"He goes to church." _****I protested. _"You just happened to be forced inside. It's not his fault the two of you are drawn to one another like that."_**

**"Are you calling me gay?" he snapped.**

**_"Yes, Shiro, you being a relentless homophobe, I'm calling you gay." _****I retorted with the utmost sarcasm.**

**"Good." Came his harsh snarl. "Because you know I'd kill you for calling me a homo."**

**_"I know."_**

**He continued slowly through the town, head hung earthbound and dark, devilish voice in a constant muttering growl. His arms were crossed behind his back, as he tended to do when thinking, and his ears would twitch on occasion. His paw pads softly scraped the pavement with his dragged steps, his tail held in a neutral position. His slitted nostrils flared wider and his thick, prominent brow furrowed in concentration. With his obsessive thinking, he didn't notice that he'd run headlong into a great furry beast.**

**"Hey, watch where you're—" the fem shouts, halting suddenly.**

**Shiro stands and brushes himself off, looking up to see Kasumi standing before him. "Kasumi…" he greets hesitantly.**

**"Hullo, Shiro!" she returned brightly, smiling with her glittery fangs. Her tail wagged subtly. "What are you doing in this part of town?"**

**"Here?" he repeated. "Wandering aimlessly down the meandering pathway that is my life. Yourself?" he turned the question toward her.**

**"Something of the sort."**** She muttered. "I was on my way to a rave location. They're going to meet tomorrow and I wanted to secure a place while I'm ahead." She smirked. "Wanna come?"**

**A slight chuckle escaped his throat. "Sure, why not? I've nothing better planned."**

**Her tail swung energetically, face splayed with an adorable brightness. "I'll see you there!"**

**He nodded and saluted her as she left, looking away with a bit of a smirk. He stared at the ground blankly, his mismatched eyes lowered softly in a taken kind of manner. Without warning, though, his expression narrowed and he took back a hand, slapping himself roughly. "What are you talking about, Shiro? You'll never be in her league. She's too good for you." He cursed, ending in a crestfallen state and sighing. He shakes his head slowly. "Just get on with your worthless existence and stop dreaming, boy. It's happened before, and it's bound to happen again." As he made his way down the stone street and stared at his feet while he walked. "Rejection's your middle name, Shiro-boy."**

**Later on that day, after he arrived back at the house, he took a seat inside a protruding bough in one of the largest trees.**

**"My sorrows are far from over." He muttered quietly, his head lowered onto his chest plate and eyes closed latently. "They've just given me a few years' break."**

**"Shiro?" a light voice called from the base of the tree.**

**He peered over the branch on which he sat, and spied Lion standing below him. "And what could you begin to want?" he snapped in return.**

**"I was merely curious." He answered, reflecting the cold incentive. "I was just wondering what you were possibly doing setting foot inside a church, especially being who you have become."**

**"I'm enthralled to say that I was shoved inside by some asshole with no direction." He snarled, turning away from Lion.**

**The older Mewtwo leapt up nearly half the tree and climbed to the branch on which Shiro sat. "Shoved inside? How _unfortunate_." He teased, sniggering to himself. "Or is it merely your duty to scruple and fester?"**

**"You must be off alcohol, or your terminology would never extend to the words that just escaped your large mouth." Shiro spat in the older Mewtwo's face with his harshest intentions.**

**"No, I just have an extensive vocabulary for a drunkard." Lion returns the sentiments in his own retort. "And trying to make fun of me won't work, kiddo."**

**Shiro takes a slash at Lion's head, missing by centimeters. "Don't call me kiddo…"**

**"Why not?**** You're _clearly_ much younger than me, as you once did mention…" the elder Mewtwo recalls to spite the boy.**

**"That still gives you no right, you insufferable moron."**

**Lion recoiled slightly, raising his brows. "Well, well, young Shiro, you never _used _to act like you do."**

**"Those days are over, Lion. It's been years since I was _nice._" He ended in a vicious tone, leaping onto the ground and beginning to walk away.**

**Lion followed him. "That's the first truthful statement I've heard from you in ages, boy." He mutters darkly. "And I think you're starting to lean back toward how you once were; deny it all you want."**

**Shiro's eyes flared and he turned back his head. "You're one to judge."**

**Lion's expression changed drastically for but a moment, and he shook his head. The small boy cocked a brow at him.**

**"Never mind, Shiro.**** Never mind." The light voice of the elder echoed as Lion turned away his head and kept walking.**

**"You know, Lion, you're a horrible liar." Shiro wheedles.**

**"The subject is closed!" he demanded in a harsher implement than he'd anticipated.**

**The two walked quietly for a moment.**

**Shiro strangely looked back, a suspicious expression crossing him. "Weren't you the same Mewtwo I met several years preceding my death?"**

**Lion gave him a half-innocent look in return. "That I was." He offered, smiling. "Though alot has changed since then. When I was out to kill you… only so long ago… I noticed that a little too late."**

**"If I were anyone else, I'd thank you." Shiro sneers slyly.**

**"I only wish I could do more." Lion finished, hand over his heart. Slowly, he turned away and exited.**

**_"Yeah, he's the one. Shame things didn't turn out better." _****I muttered quietly, butting into people's conversations as always I tended to do.**

**"You're nosy." Shiro snapped in return.**

**_"Not nosy." _****I corrected. _"Just in the right place at the wrong time."___**

**A deafening silence passed before, again, I spoke.**

**_"Get used to it. I'm here forever, Shiro-boy."_**

**"That's what I was afraid of." He growled.**

**_"Yeah, and by-the-by, I was just wondering whether you knew that that Mewtwo you met so long ago is, allegedly, your father?"_**** I simply told him, with not so much as a word out of monotone.**

**"Father!?" he repeated. "Him!?!"**

**_"So I've heard." _****I assured him.**

**"That's impossible." He figured, shrugging and beginning to walk again.**

**I snorted upon his statement. _"You're so sure about that?"_**

**"Positive." He barks. "That man has as much chance of being my father as I do winning the lottery. Lie, cheat, and steal, I may, but never do I gamble using anything but a life."**

**_"How reassuring."_****__**

**"So you see? He couldn't be." He responded in verse.**

**_"A liar's never trusted." _****I informed him, point-blank.**

**"And I admit to being one. So what's it to everyone else?" he retorted, in such a manner that meant I should say no more. "If they happen to have a problem with me, it's their own fault. Nothing's wrong with me but a small incident concerning my blind eye! Even before that, it was a different color, so why does it matter?"**

**I chose not to respond. He sounded as though he was frustrated, and I knew enough not to add to it. He wandered into another tree for a short rest and found it quiet enough to fall into a deeper sleep than he'd ever been in.**

**Within several hours, however, he stirred and found it to be early in the night. The sun still threatened to sink below the horizon and marvelous colors adorned the deep sky, though Shiro chose to look away. His good eye focused almost doggedly upon the cold ground as he made his way out and into the city again. He'd made a promise to Kasumi, and he was a man of his word, though occasions were rare when you'd get it.**

**He entered a building unfamiliar to him, though he knew what lay within. It was a rave, much like our own Grotto, and that night would be yet another party for the late-night dancers.**

**He walked slowly to a counter and sat promptly, looking about for the Arcanine, Kasumi. This was nearly the only reason he'd come, and he wouldn't waste his time if she wasn't there. Sluggishly, he took a look around and spied no Arcanine. Though his eyes did befall upon a girl dancing who bore the signature stripes of the orange dog. He shook his head doubtfully and took another look at her, with her golden tail and locks of pure silk, it seemed, also the same shimmering, watery gold of the brush tail. Her bright eyes glittered in the low light, a mysterious deep blue hue.**

**She seemed oddly familiar, he thought, as he watched her dance almost hypnotically. Quietly and subtly, she noted that he was watching her and made her way over upon her thin legs, mostly hidden by her skirt and combat boots. She stood before him, smiling serenely, hands folded before her jade skirt, bushy extension from her backbone waving with a great energy. A short giggle escaped her lips and she greeted Shiro kindly. "Shiro!! You came!" she exclaimed, staring at him with her alluring ocean-blue ocular orbs.**

**He nodded slowly and looked at her puzzledly. "Kasumi?" he queried, tilting his head and squinting one eye.**

**"Of course!" she told him, chuckling. "Who else would know your name?"**

**He took a moment to consider this and looked back upon her with slight disbelief. "But you were an Arcanine. How are you human now?"**

**"You didn't know we could become anthropomorphic?" she inquired of him, perking her ears swiftly. "All Pokémon can do it, and we're technically human once we become anthros, as they're nicknamed."**

**He still gives her a questioning glance, as another half-human approached from the distance. This man was unusually tall, seven feet at least, with dark blonde locks, not the watery coloration of Kasumi's. His eyes were a soft violet, shining in a friendly manner, and he wore piercings up and down his left ear, with a particularly large jewel on his right nostril and a ring on his brow. "Even I'm an anthro sometimes." He input in a highly familiar voice.**

**"Lion?"**** Shiro queried, adjusting to see the normally seven-or-eight-foot Mewtwo as a human of similar height.**

**He nods feverishly, jingling his various rings and bangles. "That's my name!"**

**"He just happened to come, too." Kasumi informed Shiro quietly. "Not that I mind, him being an old friend and all, but he has his moments."**

**"His blonde moments?"**** Shiro asked insensitively.**

**"Watch it, Shiro-boy. You never know, you could be a blonde, too." She forewarned.**

**"With my attitude?" he countered. "I'd be shocked if I was."**

**She shrugged. "Look at Shadow, he's blonde."**

**"Lion's dad?"**** Shiro repeated warily.**

**"The very same."**** Kasumi assured. "Believe it or not."**

**Shiro recoiled slightly and looked away temporarily. "Well, alright. I'll take my chances. How does one become a human, exactly?"**

**She stepped away and led him to where Lion was. "He'll tell you. Sometimes, and with boys mostly, anthros change naked."**

**Shiro nodded and Lion smirked. "So, little Shiro-boy wants to be a human, eh?"**

**"Indeed." The youth answered. "And I've been left with you, so don't mess it up."**

**Lion waved a hand, shoving away that idea. "Nah, the process is foolproof!"**

**"And you haven't managed to screw it over?"**

**"Not yet." He answered, assuring the boy.**

**"I'm impressed." Shiro told him truthfully. "Lead the way, then."**

**Lion walked into the male bathroom and directed Shiro into one of the stalls, informing him on the process of morphing. "It's really simple, Shiro. Just think of a human with your features, the tail, the ears, and et cetera, and your DNA will oddly react, making you an anthro. Very odd, and no one's figured out exactly how it works, but it does."**

**Shiro concentrated on a human, adding white fur, Mewtwo ears, and a violet tail to the image, and his muzzle separated into a nose and a mouth, his face reforming slightly and shrinking. His features became more human, his limbs shortening and shifting into a more delicate form. His three fingers split into five, and he sprouted a wild mane of pitch black locks against his head for the most part, but protruding everywhere and uncontrolled.**

**Lion waited outside, tapping his foot somewhat impatiently. "Oh, yes, and one thing I forgot to mention. You have a predetermined look, so you won't end up looking like the human you thought of, most likely."**

**"That's a relief." Came Shiro's voice, slightly lighter than normally it would have been. "Because I'm no good with thinking of humans."**

**"Exactly the point.**** When anthros morph, humans typically think we all look the exact same." He shook his head matter-of-factly. "Not a chance. We're all as different as those humans are."**

**Shiro stumbles out and holds his head in his left hand, around which was a spiked bracelet, similar to the one on his neck. He wore a light gray shirt and black cargo pants, with a tail hole already in the back. His eyes were roughly the same, but he had the build of a short child, proportioned to be cut directly in half at the waist.**

**"Not bad, little Shiro. Kasumi'll love this." He mutters, pulling Shiro out by his wrist (The one without a bracelet.)**

**Shiro was then thrust onto the dance floor and he flailed about until he rammed directly into another person. Painfully, he slid down onto the ground, moaning unenthusiastically.**

**Kasumi picked him up, having been the one he'd run into, and stared him in the face, eyes flaring in shock. "Ooh, I like, Shiro. You're positively adorable!" she pulled him into a hug and his head lay limply over her shoulder.**

**He came to his senses in this state and looked over to her half-consciously. "Dizzy…"**

**"Dizzy?" she repeated, holding him by the shoulders before her.**

**He twirls a hand before her and nods. "Spinning… I don't like being small enough that people can throw me."**

**"Who would?" she asks, standing him up.**

**He nods and holds his head, pigeon-toed and bent at the knees. He blinked slowly and waved his tail, earning his balance from his once ungainly state. "Alright, I think I'll be fine."**

**"Good, 'cause you go to a rave to dance!" she squealed, as "Disease" by Matchbox 20 began.**

**Knowing that Kasumi was a very friendly individual, no one would ever suspect anything of her, but I knew better. Though she was quite easy to get along with, she seemed oddly attached to Shiro, as though she'd never had any friends before; though evidence proved otherwise—she'd mentioned that Lion was an old friend, so that arose other suspicions… she could've been very outcast in her younger years… or recovering from heartache. I thought over that last sentiment as the two danced to the nearly disco beat of the lively song; contrasting Matchbox 20's normal tempo. They were quite the pair, an unlikely yet almost destined couple.**

**As the song ended and another, less pleasant to the ears of a rocker, began, they headed back to the counter. Shiro stared at Kasumi a moment while she wasn't looking, and quickly turned forward upon her approaching gaze. Only when addressed would he dare look back, with his sullen and frightening eyes, dressed with a bold defiance that was rare to find in one of his standard. A short black goatee adorned his chin, the wiry hairs jutting through his white fur that he would occasionally poke at.**

**Kasumi opened her mouth to speak to Shiro, but broke her concentration by a person tapping her shoulder. She turned back and a different song replaced the former one.**

**"Could I have this dance?" a boy asked, smiling quietly and holding out a hand.**

**She took a glance at Shiro, who stared downward and waved a hand in a sort of a shooing motion. "Go ahead." He mumbled dispiritedly, turning away. Her expression dropped from a quirky glee to more of a pleading sorrow. She looked back to the boy and nodded, taking his hand and leaving.**

**"Why'd you let her go?" a voice asked from far above his head.**

**He glanced upward and stared into Lion's face, finely formed but delicate, in a girlish kind of way. "I don't know." Came his morose reply as he laid his head on his arms. "I guess I just thought she'd be bored sitting around here with me."**

**"Don't kid yourself!" Lion scolded, slapping Shiro's back. "She's into you! Just look at her…"**

**The two glanced back and found Kasumi still dancing, but more lethargically and with less gusto than before.**

**"She's not even enjoying herself, and now she thinks you don't like her." The older Mewtwo continued, stuffing his face with various snack treats in the meantime.**

**Shiro shook his head slowly at the embarrassing man sitting next to him. "You think she really likes me that much?" he inquired hopefully, his face still emotionless, any clue at all to be found within his dialogue.**

**"What do you think, genius?" the elder mocks, hitting him squarely in the back of the head that time.**

**"That you're abusive and incredibly gullible; you moronic clown." the lad did riposte, with his sharp tongue and quick wit.**

**"A Foole, am I?" Lion attempted to retaliate. "Do I jest, or do _you_ simply refuse to accept that you might be wrong?"**

**Shiro happened to have no witty retort to counter the statement. He gave a steely glare to the other male and stormed away. "I'm leaving." He called backward.**

**"Shouldn't you tell Kasumi you said goodbye?" Lion called desperately.**

**"She'll only be mad that I left." He growled, slowly morphing back into the form of a Mewtwo and exiting.**

**Lion shook his head shamefully. "She'll be worried if you don't."**

**Meanwhile, Shiro darted down the street on his fours, headed for the woods that were his home for many years. He made his rest in a tree and curled his tail over a branch, laying over it longwise. "As an assassin, I follow my code. Never trust anyone." He spat dirtily, with a gruesome anger to his face. "No one _can _be trusted."**

**"No one, hmm?" a mysterious voice, yet definitely male and lighter than even Lion's, echoed from nowhere as a pair of teal eyes shone from the shadows.******

**"No one."**** He hissed into the distance, impervious to whom he was speaking.**

**A Charmander, of possibly three times the normal size, stood out on the limb before Shiro, staring him in the eye. "You may know me, I'm Char-Char. The fabled Charmander who's also the youngest brother of Charie the Charizard. I'm quite well-known around here. As you seem to be, boy."**

**"Boy?" Shiro repeated, bearing his yellowed fangs.**

**"Indeed. You're younger than I." Char-Char explained, a clawed hand on his chest. "So I've heard, at least."**

**"Just like everyone else." Shiro barked, turning away and rolling onto his side with his back facing the lizard.**

**The fiery reptile leapt in front of him and tapped his foot. "Who or what are you angry at?"**

**"Lion."**** Came his answer, sweet and simple.**

**"Lion?"**** Char-Char repeated, sitting near the base of the branch. "That's a first. Everyone else seems to like the guy."**

**Shiro tossed and turned over. "Indeed, the great fool."**

**"Great fool, you say?" Char-Char mimicked, shaking his head. "You're a riot, Mewtwo. Indeed, I've never heard an insult toward the man in all my days. Concern, maybe, but ne'er did any toss a spiteful sentiment his way."**

**"I have reason to believe different." Shiro returned, crossing his arms hotly and laying his head atop them.**

**"Reason, you say?" the Charmander echoed, crossing his own short limbs and cocking a brow slyly. "What reason have you to dislike him, other than the fact that you're polar opposites."**

**"Has anyone ever told you that you're _nosy,_ Char-Char?" Shiro sneered.**

**He smiles. "No, it's more curiosity than nosiness."**

**"He killed me." Shiro said plainly, looking back forward.**

**"Killed you? He doesn't seem the type to murder." Char-Char paused. "And you don't seem the trustworthy type."**

**"I would swear upon something, but I've nothing other than my grave." The Mewtwo boy responded crossly.**

**"That would work." The lizard added, muttering quietly. "So he killed you? For what reason, perhaps?"**

**"He found me and I pissed him off." Came the growl of an answer, as Shiro recalled the event.**

**"And if you lie?" Char-Char quizzed, giving Shiro a wary glance.**

**"May I be eaten alive by ravenous wolves." He uttered darkly.**

**"I see you are confident in your reasoning." Char-Char mumbled, climbing a bit higher. "Watch yourself, boy. Condescension will one day be your downfall if you're not careful."**

**"And your nasty habit of repeating people will one day get you thrown off a cliff." Shiro spited in a serpent's hiss.**

**Char-Char howled laughter. "You're quite funny, kid. Build on that instead of your worst habits. People will like you better."**

**Shiro snorted and shrugged off the thought with no consideration. "Like I'm going to take advice from a walking, talking bonfire."**

**"It got me places. Just trying to help you. What's your name, by the way?"**

**"None of your business."**** He snapped coldly.**

**Char-Char shook his head. "One day, Mewtwo, I hope we become friends. Then we can look back and laugh upon this day. Until then, you'll never find true sublimity."**

**Shiro twitched his nostrils as the Charmander exited. He rolled onto his back and stared into the ever-darkening sky, still with fading light and a touch of pink and gold. Forcefully, he wrenched his eyes away from the scene and lowered the eyelids of his mutilated face gently, thinking himself into a disturbed sleep.**

**When the next day stirred him from his most serene hours, he awoke with a clear head and memory of only the fact that a tournament was being held that day. Nothing else distracted him from his destiny to fight as he rose, stretched, and leapt down from the tree in a highly feline manner.**

**He made his way into the city at approximately ****noon**** and headed for the arena placed obviously in the middle of town. He approached the crowded signup desk, still half-asleep, and began to fill out the sheet, leaving several spaces blank due to his privacy fetish. When he handed the judge the sheet, the man took a look at it and called Shiro back.**

**"I'm sorry, sir, but you must fill all the spaces." He called to the Mewtwo, who stopped dead in his tracks.**

**"What was that?" Shiro inquired fiercely, turning back naught but his head.**

**"Sir, do you have a name?" the judge inquired.**

**"Indeed." Shiro answered coldly.**

**"What about a Trainer?"**

**"Never."**** He spat in immediate response.**

**"I apologize, but you must have a trainer to enter this competition." The judge said quickly.**

**"Do I?" the boy Mewtwo thought aloud, re-approaching the man at the counter. He held up a clawed hand to the person's throat.**

**"N-no sir…" he stammered in return, fearing for his life.**

**"No?" Shiro repeated, smirking. "Good." He lowered his hand and set off again to the mini-arenas for elimination rounds.**

**As soon as he arrived, he caught the most attention of any fighter there. Of course, he was the only one that was gray when he was supposed to be pale white, not to mention his tiger-stripe scars. Many gave him only a solitary glance because he seemed—and was—hostile, but others stepped the line and still gawked bewilderedly. Yet more even began to converse with one another about him behind his back. He quickly became even more ornery than he already was. This is not a good thing to do… but what did they know?**

**He sat hastily and set his head upon his collarbone to rest a bit before preliminaries. His eyelids shut callously and he daydreamt for a short while until the announcements came for the fighters to report to the stadiums.**

**"THERE ARE OBVIOUSLY MANY CONTESTANTS HERE TODAY, AND WE'D—FIRST OF ALL—LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING. THIS IS A PRESTIGIOUS EVENT WHERE POKéMON WILL BE PITTED AGAINST ONE ANOTHER FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN TITLE OF THE STRONGEST IN THE DIAMOND LEAGUE!" the PA announced. "BUT ONLY SIXTY-FOUR MAY COMPETE AGAINST ONE ANOTHER, AND THERE ARE LITERALLY THOUSANDS HERE. WE'LL NARROW IT DOWN WITH A BIT OF PRELIMINARY ROUNDS. THIS WILL BE MELEE ONLY—NO ITEMS, NO HELP FROM TRAINERS. APPROACH THE STANDS FOR YOUR NUMBER IF YOU WISH TO COMPETE."**

**Shiro lazily rose to his feet and ventured over to the number box, sticking his left hand in and heading over to the boards. They readied to put his title when he showed his number; 42; to the man with the marker. With great hesitation, he told them to merely put him down as '?' for all fights. He didn't want to reveal his name, for what reason I know not.**

**Preliminary battles were five-monster free-for-alls. The individual contestants would attempt by all means to incapacitate the other four and walk away victorious. The last competitor standing would move on to the real battles.**

**Shiro thought nothing of it as he was called up and approached the arena. He sat noiselessly and looked upon the other four challengers of which he was to face. A Jolteon, Snorlax, Charizard, and Girafarig returned his emotionless stare, the Jolteon actually smiling and tousling his already disheveled fur.**

**"I don't think he should be a problem, lads." He announced in an Australian accent. "Look at 'im, he's already had a bad run-in with something-or-other." He smirked and turned to Shiro. "What'd you do, get in a fight with a Sandslash and lose?"**

**Shiro merely narrowed his prominent brow, mood already half-spoiled as of.**** He gave this warning glare for a moment before they all laughed, and at last, the bell rang to signal start. He leapt and began to massacre the small dog with his claws and fangs, sparing no mercy and leaving it in a trail of blood. Slowly, he turned and advanced toward the others, seeing fit to the Jolteon's punishment.**

**The Charizard took to the air and the Girafarig turned on the Snorlax, slowly wearing it down. As the Charizard hung airborne for a moment, it decided that it, too, would attempt to bring down the lethargic Pokémon as opposed to the hotheaded Mewtwo. The Snorlax rose, tired of all the abuse it was taking, and approached Shiro… who was calmly cleaning his paw. He towered over and cast the cat into dark shadow with his massive bulk, leaning forth as if to Body Slam.**

**Shiro shook his head and took a swipe at the mass of blubber, claws just sharp enough to slit the tub of fat and send it falling back in tears. It landed instead upon the Girafarig and left the Charizard rather alone. Slowly, it lifted into the sky as Shiro watched it offhandedly, as though amused that it was actually challenging him. As the lizard dove, it shot flame in Shiro's direction, which he easily pounced over, landing atop the Charizard's back and latching his titanium claws into the orange scales, causing it to roar out in agony and lose balance, falling and skidding to a halt on the stage. **

**The miniature Mewtwo sat calmly until his win was announced, as he'd predicted—and with good reason. It was a rare creature who faced the man and lived when he was out for blood.**

**"ROUND 2!" the PA announced. "THERE WILL BE FOUR OPPONENTS THIS TIME AROUND!"**

**Shiro drew a languorous breath and yawned. "Child's play." He murmured in his dark, villainous vocals, called to another arena with three other contestants. These contenders consisted of a Houndoom, Persian, and Arcanine. Two young male dogs and a sassy feline fem were to take him on, he thought? The only beast he was the least bit wary of was the Houndoom, being a dark type, and a lethal opponent if he was bitten with a Crunch attack. Darks went out of their way to taste a psychic's blood, and he reeked of the powerful mental energy, much like the scent of a prey animal.**

**He curled upon the cold floor, laying his tail against him and taking a short rest. "Now, the last one of you standing, wake me up." He told them callously, waving a hand and shifting into a comfortable position.**

**"Is he insane?" the Arcanine whispered, as the Houndoom shook its regal maw.**

**"A regular Psychic-type… thinks he owns the world." The black hound spat, curling his redden lips.**

**The Persian hissed. "Tomcats…" she sneered. "So arrogant…"**

**"Well," the Arcanine began, stepping forth as the bell sounded. "He must've been pretty good to get past the first round. Let's humor him awhile."**

**"Besides…" the 'Doom growled. "We've got another kitty to chase in the meantime."**

**She slunk back, fur rising. "Boys and dogs…" she hissed. "Can't escape them."**

**The white-tiger Mewtwo slumbered as the wolves tailed the Persian fem, finally cornering her and taking her out. Double-teaming seemed to be the main interest of these intrepid mongrels; as they turned slowly toward the snoozing Mewclone.**

**"So, you want to get the first hit, or shall we just take him out all at once?" the Arc suggested.**

**"Actually," Shiro interrupted, "I think I should get that honor." He arose to his feet and turned toward them, a sly grin crossing his short muzzle, as his eyes flared to their glittering extreme. He leapt and in a flash of white, slaughtered the Houndoom with his diamond-sharp claws. He turned his head back and stared menacingly at the orange mutt, a near insane glint in his eye. "How about you? Do you surrender, or shall I maul you beyond recognition as well?"**

**He slowly took a step backward, chancing a glance to both sides as he recoiled. "He… he just took out a Houndoom…" he stuttered aloud. "I'm not looking for trouble… I'll quit." He offered, lowering his head. He stepped off the ring and leapt away, bounding off into the crowd; never to be seen from again.**

**"I figured as much." Shiro muttered, sitting in the midst of the arena and laying his head down once more. He swirled his tail in the most content he'd felt that day, as he waited for the judges to call down the last survivor. With slight lament, he left his post, having settled into a gory battleground to rest, something that oddly sparked emotion within him. He seemed to feel most relaxed after he'd made a kill, but a part of him could've cared less for manslaughter and chaos… A part of him missed Kasumi, no matter how he tried to deny it.**

**Eventually, the little moderators of this event readied the actual arena for battling, and called the last 64 standing to the stage. They drew a number between one and sixty-four, Shiro uncaringly taking #44. Somehow, he seemed drawn to the number four.**

**The first fight would host #34 against #29. Shiro was neither of these dubbed numbers, so he didn't bother to even watch the match. What the others did was of no concern to him; his mind was elsewhere. As the matches dragged on, the announcer would occasionally comment upon the fighter that'd gotten #1. Saying she was something of great endeavorance, he went on about how she was a sight to behold.**

**"Yeah, just like every other girl that made it this far in the tournament." The scarred Mewtwo spat, very set in his old-fashioned ways. He was greatly used to the fact that girls couldn't fight; and believed no less. Though he'd never come across a female who could physically subdue him, so his headstrong and admittedly somewhat ignorant theories tended to prevail.**

**As soon as his number was called, he sauntered up to the stage lazily, only to mow down and storm through his opponent with lax effort. He paid no mind to how prestigious his foe was, he needn't lift more than a finger for a victory. He was obviously entered in an unfair tournament. Or an exceedingly easy one, so far as he was concerned.**

**Eventually, it came to the end of the third round, and all the competitors had fought at least three battles, half of them sent packing by their opponents every round. Only a weak eight fighters were left of the original sixty-four, but they were the best so far. Again, Shiro was easily included in that remaining number, and so was the mysterious #1… she advanced near easily as the hotheaded Mewtwo.**

**As numbers 4 and 56 were called to the stage, Shiro sat at the edge of the wall before the arena, head upon his collarbone as he lay silently and deathly still. The match went to 56, and 20 and 62 were assigned to fight. With 20 victorious, #1 and 39 up next. Number one obviously took the match, winning in such record time that Shiro actually cared to glance upward, just as the fighters had left the stage. Next was his fight against 27.**

**The trainer sent a Nidoking up, while Shiro calmly resumed his old post on the stage, and the announcer called for the start. He waved his lengthy tail, covered with scars of a bloodred hue. His oddly chosen eyes focused upon the giant rabbit Pokémon as it let out an earsplitting roar. The stadium shook a moment, and Shiro shook his head slowly, standing and advancing toward the Nidoking, his sleek form discernible by the manner in which his bones caused his skin and tasseled fur to shift.**

**The Nidoking took a step forward and ducked his head, jamming his horn forth as the assassin leapt, clutching to the back of his neck and sinking his yellowed fangs into the armored skin, holding his position with his tail and serrated claws. In a moment or two, the Nidoking fell to his knees and forward, as Shiro slowly moved away, dropping off the stage callously.**

**And the semi-finals arrived with a vengeance, Number 56 would face #1, and 20 would then square off against Shiro. The two other contestants were summoned to the arena, and in another few seconds, #1 stole the match. Twenty and Shiro became opponents shortly afterward, the smaller-than-average Mewtwo staring down the impressively-sized Alakazam.**

**He waved a hand uncaringly toward the other psychic type and batted his eyes. "They expect me, one of a race called the Lords of Psychics, to face that?" he demands, to see just how short this foe's fuse was. I remembered that Alakazam were known for their incredible patience, but Shiro still wanted to taunt the other psychic, attempting to test just _how_ far those limits stretched. "It barely seems capable of making it this far into the rut." He continued jeeringly.**

**As the start of the match was announced, he smiled, as the Alakazam appeared to be confused, and only harmed itself by attempting an attack on him.**

**"Swagger." He chimed amusedly, watching the other stumble about the arena. "Very useful." He pounced upon it and tackled it to the stage, taking the last of its remaining energy. "Odd. I thought the match would last longer." He said to its trainer, tantalizingly superiorly.**

**The girl recalled her Alakazam indignantly, heading away. The match for the finals would be #44 VS. #1. Shiro remained perched atop the stage, his haughtiness for good reason. While the other seemed to be his strength, give or take, she was still but a female to him.**

**As she approached the stage, however, he'd barely heard her steps, though she was a rather large opponent. The smooth, legato way to which she moved made scarcely a sound as she leapt onto the arena. She stared a moment and recoiled; from what Shiro could distinguish with his acute hearing alone. He slowly raised his eyelids, and caught an eyeful of a magnificent Arc, her watery blonde locks and mysterious dark blue eyes unmistakably familiar.**

**"Kasumi."**** He muttered, a slight smirk upon his wry face quickly replaced by a frown. He waved his tail impatiently and glanced aside, emitting a slight chuckle. "And here I was thinking that you were just another fem who lucked out." He told her, his peculiarly alluring vocal tones melodic and dark in the same essence.**

**"And here I was thinking I could spend at least one night with you, getting to know you better." She mocked him harshly, her emotions torn between frustration, anger, and disdain. "But it seems you'll never change. Once a bloody coward, always a bloody coward."**

**His bold eyes flashed dangerously. "Coward, am I?" he inquired, clearly not impressed.**

**"Afraid of your feelings."**** She corrected, as the sounding of the match was indicated.**

**The two lunged out, both on a similar note; deathly dangerous and out for blood. But in any other sense, opposite as two individuals get. The assassins locked claws, equally matched in speed; but Kasumi began to push him back, clearly the dominate in strength. He ducked under, lashing at her softer underside and causing her to leap back in shock and surprise. He countered her movement and leapt atop her back with his claws extended, landing forcefully to take out a bit of flesh, but she bucked him away easily, his dominate in defense as well. Though his carefully calculated movements and sharp, precise executions suggested that his dexterity and agility were more than enough to meet hers.**

**For a moment, they squalled, taking less than a fraction of a second to attack and becoming a whirlwind of orange, black, red, and off-white. A rumbling in the Earth began to shake the ground, though it went ignored by the intent fighters, so immersed in combat that their cares did not extend to a mere trifle such as this. As the ground quaked again, people within the audience had already begun to vacate, knowing that the island was a host to many natural disasters like earthquakes and tidal waves.**

**The two continued to quarrel, completely oblivious to the shaking earth as they countered one another with their own sides of what was beginning to happen. The argument became more personal than the tournament had originally intended, but the stadium had been vacated in the meantime, while they still fought.**

**A gigantic fissure split the earth under the stadium, splitting the two down the middle whilst they were both in midair, causing their landing to be much deeper into the earth than first intended. Indeed, they dropped for miles into the eternal abysmal trench that was result of the earthquake. Strange, though, that it'd only opened up underneath the two, and not anywhere otherwise… and I could've sworn as they were falling together, it'd begun to close behind them.**

**When they landed, Shiro upon his hindquarters and Kasumi upon all fours, one glance around revealed this place to be abandoned… or at least vacant. Buildings that had begun to decay and deteriorate were displayed everywhere, obstructing the view of the redden ground. A sign, beaten and abused, stood in a horrid shape nearby, stating: "Welcome to Hell"**

**"I'll say…" our short****-statured ****hero(****_Hero_****…_right_…) agreed with the sign, noting the words and taking a glance around. "What a place to have to continue existing, eh?"**

**Kasumi nodded, making no noise but a grunt of approval. She took a few wary steps, surveying the empty landscape. "Are we dead?" she inquired.**

**"So."**** Shiro began, breaking into a tiny smirk and chuckling. He was one quick to find things out. "You are a future hell-bound yourself?" he questioned, causing her to flinch. "It seems I'm not the only one who's trying to hide something."**

**"At least I can admit something when asked." She countered.**

**He frowned. "At least I have the courage to ask." He remarked darkly, staring seriously at her.**

**She glanced back, an unreadable expression across her face, but by how she kept moving, as though nothing had been said, she knew Shiro had a point.**

**Speaking of the Mewtwo, he arose to his own four paws and trailed her, only to find by reading the signs that there was also to be a tournament in the hells that day. There are, in Imn, nine Hells, each specified for a different specie or sentient being. There is a hell for humans, a hell for divine beings like dragons, several more for un-indicated beings, and one for Pokémon. The Imn, a race of Necromancers from a planet unknown by man, are much like spirits. They can fuse with an animal of their choice and become an anthro, they can say spells to raise the dead, and they can pray to their gods—six of them—to bless them in some way.**

**The gods—the original four, were Dashina, the eagle high goddess of law; Murin, the horse god of war; Emukus, the jackal god of influence; and Shura, the lioness goddess of beauty. Women were of higher rank than men on Imn, so the high goddess proclaimed that it would be a crime… _after _she'd already spawned a child with Murin… for a full-god child to be born. But Emukus and Shura broke the law as well, and there were then six. The two second-generation gods were unable to be located, and no one knows who they are other than the gods themselves.**

**The two combatants, Shiro and Kasumi, reached a sort of arena set up much like the one from Earth, and approached it, knowing they'd been brought there for a reason. And what better reason than to fight in the hell's tournament? They'd begun to quarrel amongst themselves to practice, and all the old _friends_ of the two happened to be there. Meaning the Dark Lord as well…**

**"That bastard is going to need a fucking body-cast when I'm through with him…" Shiro cursed, indicating that he still, of course, hated the false Persian.**

**"Don't think you're alone." Kasumi said back. "I have qualms with a few of these fucks, too."**

**At her profane sentiments, harsh and yet heartfelt as his own, he seemed to question his position toward her, and only felt an insecure neutralist stand against her. The two walked in silence, to approach the great stand where several beasts awaited them.**

**"So, they've arrived!" an Articuno announced to the others.**

**"We were waiting for you…" a Houndour jeered after the bird spoke.**

**The two remained silent, saving spite for when they were to combat their enemies. Kasumi would chance a glance back at Shiro every so often, and it was announced that all fighters should approach the stage.**

**"Alright."**** A beast tells them, advancing upon very starved limbs and a sleek black torso that curved with his strides. A skull helmet covered his glowing red eyes, two great horns curling back into a smaller and smaller circle until it came to a point—similar to the horns of a ram—adorning his noble crown. His bloodred muzzle came to a point, as did the tail at the base of his spine, leisurely following him, devil's point slicing the air. A grand silver cape flowed behind him, attached to the skull necklace about his bold, powerful neck, and about seven pairs of ribs dressed his back, all of varying sizes. "If you didn't know already, I am somewhat like the _devil _of Pokémon hell. I guess you know you're not dead, but you're invited to the tournament, so enjoy yourselves while you can, you loathsome bastards." With that, he turned away, disappearing and reappearing to preside over the tournament.**

**The two exchanged skeptic glances and stepped toward the arena, as they'd been instructed.**

**"Now, I know who you all are; you've been here at least once in your pathetic, half-assed careers. So just know one thing: I will call you by your titles, so if you have a problem with your name, indicate it and I'll be sure to make it worse. Alright, how about that Falk bird and the Sasaki boy." He muttered, waving a sleek paw.**

**An Articuno assumed his place upon the stage, but there was a pause, as no 'Sasaki' advanced. The bird of frost shifted his gaze about for a moment, looking for this 'Sasaki.'**

**_"Wait a minute…" _****I muttered aloud in thought. _"Sasaki?__ That's Lion's last name…"_**

**"What?" Shiro demanded of me, scratching at his head. He lowered his head a moment in thought.**

**"Come on Shiro, we haven't all day scar-butt." The black dog jeered in his direction.**

**"Sasaki…" he ended. "Damn, it's been so long I've nearly forgotten that that was my name…" he shook his head and approached the stage, sitting atop it and studying his adversary.**

**"Now that I have your attention, begin your fight." The hellhound continued.**

**Shiro snorted back at him, charging forth to pounce upon his opponent; however, the bird took wing and left the stage, hovering in midair while the cat turned back below. He coiled and sprang, catching the scaled leg of the ice-bird and clinging with but a mere claw.**

**The screech mustered by the Articuno echoed out as he lashed at the Mewtwo's hand with his free talon, attempting in vain to shake him off. He pecked downward, slowly losing altitude with the extra weight, and was caught in the side of the head by a swipe from the young cat. Both fell through the 'sky' and Shiro leapt off in time before Falk hit the stage.**

**"The winner, scar-butt."**** The hound continued. "Next I'll choose… Tora and that… fake… Persian guy."**

**The two approached the stage without hesitation. They knew well from being down there that you don't mess with the Devil. Though his black hound seemed to take pleasure in pitting natural enemies against one another. He didn't hesitate in his next decision putting a Charizard up against Kasumi, with lack of a cat to face her.**

**Kasumi took out the Charizard with somewhat simplistic ease, and next were a Tauros against a Venusaur. The Venusaur won the match and the next opponent for Shiro was the Dark Lord once more.**

**"So we meet again." The youth sneered in his dark voice, pacing before the shapeshifter cockily.**

**"Hey, hey!"**** The devil called. "Turn into a dog or something! Come on, come on!" he laughed aloud at the perturbed state of the tan cat. "Do it!"**

**The Persian hissed and his shoulder fur ruffled. "I'm not your dog, you can't make me."**

**"Not your dog?" he repeated, much less amused than before. "Then maybe you'd like to be my mouse instead?" he glared at him with his empty glowing eyes and he slowly morphed into a Pichu.**

**Shiro hissed laughter, watching the Pichu intently. "I like to chase mice…"**

**"Pi!!" the Dark Lord called out, eyes wide and bright as he tried to morph back.**

**The hellhound laughed aloud, smiling sinisterly. "Go ahead, scar-butt. Have some fun."**

**"You know…" he thought aloud, so that only the Pichu could hear as he approached and cast a shadow on the small mouse. "I think I'm starting to like that guy."**

**As the small rodent took off, he pursued it closely, the hound watching and having a grand old time from the looks of it. He kept huffing a powerful laugh, watching the yellow rat suffer.**

**Shiro finally caught up to the former Persian and lunged, leaving it in a pool of blood and licking his paw afterward.**

**"Now geddown, kitty!**** Shoo!" the dog made a motion for Shiro to leave the stage and the Pichu was turned back into a Persian and escorted away. "Next… ehhh, I'll go with the Arc bitch and the leafy dinosaur."**

**Kasumi and the Venusaur were set upon the stage, and the grass-type was easily scorched in an effortless implement on her part.**

**"And now, my little marionettes, the two winners—Scar-butt and Arc Bitch—shall face me." He growled, approaching the two. "The little one's full of tricks, and the girl's just fun to mess around with. It's been a looonnnngg long time since someone's been damned badly enough to face me, and… well… just call this an advance on your payment to me in the future." He told the both of them, sitting calmly. "Ready?"**

**Kasumi indicated no answer, staring at him a bit indignantly, but Shiro nodded—a tip of the maw.**

**"Good." He said calmly, launching toward them and missing Shiro by an inch. He stopped immediately and leapt back, the two meeting with claw-and-claw and fang-to-fang. Kasumi assisted by tackling the devil from the side and taking him to the ground for a split second until she was thrown off, landing in a heap nearby. He turned back and leapt, landing on Shiro's back and having the dog's claws tear the flesh on his back. He rolled and backed off a split second, turning back to lunge for the throat of the hound.**

**In the meantime, Kasumi had returned, taking the dog by the horn and pulling him along by it. Meanwhile, Shiro clung to his side with his serrated claws, attempting to get a hold on the neck, but he was taken by the shoulder and tossed off while he dealt Kasumi a powerful blow using his paw. He approached her as she landed, taking her maw in the same paw and glancing her over. "Hmm… a beauty of a fighter to be hanging along with such trash." He chanced a glance toward Shiro, who was painfully rising to his feet. "Such a shame she's not my type." He smiled demonically. "Never stopped my father… did it?" as he stared at her, one eye flared open and she shook her head loose.**

**"You pervert!" she shouted, slapping him across the face. "Don't even think it!"**

**"Oh, but it's too late for that, Kasumi." He still wore his crooked smile. "Far too late for that."**

**She glared at him as he advanced, but he fell forth as Shiro dug his claws into the other's back, taking a good hold and ripping inward with his clear rage.**

**"She said don't think it." He hissed to the hellhound. "I advise you listen."**

**He snarled back, a bloodred lip curled dangerously. "What, are you her lover or some such thing?"**

**There was a pause from all sides, and the hound tossed him away. "No answer? Hmmm, I guess that means no." he turned back to Kasumi. "Now, where were we?"**

**He was caught in the head that time, by a mouthful of yellowed fangs. He recoiled and shook his crown violently, cringing and staring directly into Shiro's blind eye. "You!" he barked, lashing against his back repeatedly until the flesh was nearly unrecognizable. "Why are you always getting in my way!?"**

**Shiro still held his ground, clenching his jaw harder into the muzzle of the dog, his claws finding some new target every slash. He eventually caused a tiny crack in the dog's top jaw, and was whipped off, landing on his neck and skidding for a few yards. He rose to his feet with a single leap, his ominous glare adorning him, the one that got him the nickname Hellface. "I may not be her lover, but…" he hissed darkly, lunging. "I'll still fight for her." He ended in a vicious snarl, clinging to the hellhound's face again with his titanium claws.**

**The hound threw him away, narrowing his brow and hitting him repeatedly in the head while he was down. "You want to fight for her?" he asked once, backhanding the Mewtwo. "Now's your chance, fucker."**

**Kasumi charged, leaping and clenching her jaws into the back of his head. She tore at the flesh of the dog in a furious bout, until she was bucked off and struck down from the air.**

**"So, you won't agree with me, will you Kasumi?" he inquired, looking to Shiro and sitting next to him. "How about I kill him and then see how you like me."**

**She painfully returned to her feet and advanced slowly, with somewhat of a smile. "You know… maybe you could kill him." She grew a more and more devious grin as she approached. "Go ahead…"**

**He recoiled slightly, glancing between the two. "So you mean you wouldn't care?"**

**She shook her head. "Oh, I would care, but you'd just be doing yourself harm."**

**"Explain." He said simply.**

**"Well," she began "If you kept Shiro down here, what do you think would happen? He's one of the most persistent people I know… and I know some very tenacious individuals. He would torture you to the end of your days, boy. You'd be _begging _someone else to take him."**

**"I'm the devil, my dear. I don't think I'm going to be so annoyed by a pesky street-punk." He held a paw to his chest. "Besides, when I can control him to do as I please, I don't think he'll be a problem."**

**"Think about this, I know him better than you do. I've spent _years _knowing him, and the boy enraged even the great Archaeopteryx with ease." She still smiled. "And with neither a worry nor care."**

**The devil chanced a sideways glance to Shiro and snorted. "Archaeopteryx has a short temper! I'm a bit more patient with my eternal damned."**

**"Patience can be worn thin, you know. And he has the tendency to wear it down quite quickly, if you catch my drift." She still watched him for any signs of reluctance.**

**"You're bluffing, my conniving mistress." He told her flat-out. "You just don't want me to kill the little rat."**

**She shook her head loftily. "Oh no, I'm just warning you." She told him quietly. "If you _really _feel you must, go ahead and send him to this hell."**

**He suddenly grew a smile. "You know, Kasumi, you're right… I don't want to have him lingering about." He explained in a wry intonation.**

**She watched him warily.**

**"But then again, neither would heaven, would they?" he inquired.**

**"Oh, I honestly don't think you could send him there." She told the hound. "He's the scourge of the universe, in case you haven't heard."**

**"I know." He said quietly. "But if I don't want him… and heaven certainly doesn't want him… guess where he goes…"**

**Her eyes flared as she realized what he was saying.**

**"So, shall I kill him, or will you be mine?" he held the head of the cat in one hand. "He'd make a fine ghost… he already looks like one."**

**She stared between them and looked away.**

**"Choose! One or the other, Kasumi. But think of it… if you take me, I'll let him go. But if you choose him, you'll both die eventually." He stared at her through his icy vivid red eyes.**

**She approached slowly, a few steps forward.**

**"Ah, ah, ah!" he shook his finger, putting the claw to Shiro's throat. "You come any closer and you get no choice."**

**She halted immediately, just barely within leaping distance of the two. An eternity seemed to pass before she stared hatefully at him. "Can I say goodbye?"**

**"If you wish."**** He took a few steps back from Shiro, who still lay calmly, seemingly unconscious.**

**She lowered her head and licked his cheek. "You're not going to purgatory… not if I can help it." She turned back to the devil and pounced, taking him by surprise and allowing her room to pin him to the floor. "Now." She said simply. "If you let us both go, I won't embarrass you in front of your little subjects."**

**"You forget," he croaked "I can't die."**

**"But you can feel pain." She reminded coldly, putting more weight into her step.**

**"So can you." He countered, pushing her away and striking her temple with his back paw. He approached Shiro, who'd begun to stir, and held a paw at his scrawny throat. "Now, my boy, you will feel more pain than you've likely ever felt before, and you'll watch me helplessly as I screw your girlfriend over there." He raised the other paw, opening a spot on his neck and holding his head down against the ground. "Say ****adieu, Shiro…"******

**"That's enough!!" a bold voice called into the distance, causing the hellhound to hesitate.**

**"I know that voice… so, you've come to stop me have you, goody-goody-two-shoes?" he inquired, looking behind him to note the presence of a glowing ivory hound, also wearing upon his noble head a skull crown, though his was jade in coloration and hid wondrous blue eyes full of hope and serenity. His limbs were not thick, but weren't as skeletal as the frame of the devil, and his torso was lined in a violet color, magnificent powder blue wings adorning his shoulders and midnight blue kudu horns on the back of his head. A grand bushy tail waved behind him, and his tannish muzzle wore a troubled frown as he stared down the demon.**

**"That I have." He answered, approaching the devil calmly and watching as the black hound slinked away. "It is not your business to continue torturing this boy or the girl, for that matter."**

**"And how is it not my business? They'll be down here soon enough, I can smell the evil emanating from the scrawny one." He growled in return to the other.**

**"Lucifer, it is not your place to interfere with them!" he called. "Fate has not decided this for them!"**

**"Stop calling me Lucifer! That was my father's name and you know it, Gabriel." He spat. "I am Azreal Diablo Lucifer the third, and I wear the name proudly."**

**"I still cannot allow you to continue with these heinous acts in my presence, Azreal." He continued.**

**_"Ohhh… I'm a goody little angel so that means I can stop the devil!" _****he mocked, folding the toes of his forepaws and curling his tail inward, batting his eyes toward the ceiling. "Peh! You couldn't beat my father, Gabriel, so you most certainly can't beat me!"**

**"I am here on the orders of Archaeopteryx, Azreal. Not on my own time."**

**His eyes flared dangerously. "Prove it, Gabriel. Show me some tangible evidence."**

**"I cannot give you more than my word, Azreal."**

**"Hah!" he barked. "Therefore, I am in the right here. I can defeat you easily."**

**"Just because I am only an angel doesn't mean I don't have power." Gabriel told him, glaring sourly. "You underestimate me. You may have the home field advantage, but I far exceed your power with the assistance of the great Archaeopteryx."**

**"Hah! You've still not proved yourself, you pathetic angel." Azreal countered. He glanced toward the once lifeless form of Shiro as he slowly began to climb to his feet once again. "The _boy _is more tenacious than you!" he shook his head. "Look at the scrawny little pest! Still fighting a hopeless battle for an unnamed cause!"**

**Shiro staggered once he gained his balance, but caught himself and gingerly placed a paw upon the ground, facing the devil with his weak stance and shattering will. Though his eyes… the one thing about him that still held on… still shining with determination, even despite the fact that he knew he couldn't win.**

**"It's impossible how the rat just… gets back up on his feet like that!" Azreal shouted. "What the hell _is _he!?"**

**"Shiro, you may back down. This is not your fight anymore." Gabriel assured in his gentle vocals.**

**Shiro gave him a short, fixed glare. "It is my battle… my duty… to protect Kasumi." He murmured, taking short pauses between his words. I could've sworn at that moment that he had a pair of noble white wings right then, but his brain was so scrambled that I wasn't sure they were real. "We'll finish this, Azreal!" he shouted hoarsely, his rage and vehemence clear in the way he tensed while he stood there, claws extended and yellowed fangs borne.**

**"The little bastard… he's more than what he seems…" Azreal whispered, eyes wide and twitching in shock. "But how? How is he…?" he never got to finish his question, as Shiro charged, taking Azreal by surprise and knocking him over, while the devil responded with a hit to the side of his face.**

**The boy landed several feet away, his arms still attempting to push him up, shuddering violently and giving way within seconds. He bore nothing more now than his will.**

**Gabriel took to the skies, diving and attacking Azreal while the hellhound had been watching Shiro and bringing the devil to the ground. He held Azreal by the throat with one of his paws, glaring down at him. "Let them go, Azreal."**

**"What authority do you think you have!?" the black hound countered.**

**"I have the authority to decide this, Azreal. Let them go."**

**The scrawny hellhound looked around carefully. "On one condition."**

**"I'm not making deals with you, Azreal!" Gabriel pressed only harder upon the throat of the demon. "Let them go!"**

**"What can you do to me that would make me want to, Gabriel? You can't kill me, nor can you take away my title as the devil, and you most certainly can't damn me to an eternity of torture."**

**"I am the messenger of Archaeopteryx. I can't do these things on my own… but _he_ can." The white wolf reminded him.**

**"……" words seemed to escape Azreal as he looked around his domain. "Take them, then." He spat. "I don't care."**

**"Good choice, Azreal." The ivory hound stepped away, approaching Shiro as he stared forward with his mismatched eyes. "You're free. Come along, I'll get Kasumi."**

**Shiro stood, limping past Gabriel, and blocked his path. "I'll get her." He muttered warningly, looking back to where she was and trudging ever forth.**

**"Yes, Shiro." He answered quietly, following the shamble of the small Mewtwo in a close pattern of step at a considerable distance. He knew not to approach the boy when he was in such a distraught state, but he was unsure about whether he really knew his strengths or not.**

**Shiro kept on, however, and approached Kasumi, leaning in and scooping her onto his back painfully, though he hid his true anguish behind a glowering façade. He hobbled in the other direction from whence he came, and they reached the entrance to the hells from which they fell beforehand. He looked up to the fissure in the earth and Gabriel stood alongside him.**

**"You'll find that you have wings, Shiro, but they are only temporary. They will disappear once you reach the realm of Earth, but will always remain when you are in the heavens or the hells." He explained. "You are more than what you seem… never let anyone convince you otherwise."**

**Shiro stared at him with latent eyelids, nodding with a sharp tip of his maw and spreading the wingspan that he'd been told he had.**

**"When you reach the angelic stage, you'll be able to keep these wings." Gabriel said, spreading his own; of a soft blue hue. "Your heart still contains the blackness that you once kept. You must repent if you wish to become yourself again. Until then, you are lost."**

**Shiro swept downward with the divine wingspan, rising into the crevasse that had opened in the earth as Gabriel tailed him. He landed upon the ground and the ivory feathers dissolved into nothing. He watched as the white wolf continued to ascend into the heavens, but stopped to hover above him.**

**"I'll see you again, Shiro. When I don't know, but someday." The wolf smiled and turned away, disappearing into nothingness after reaching a certain point in altitude.**

**Shiro was left with the true pain of his injuries, setting off back toward my house with Kasumi still upon his lacerated back. Through the light snow that'd begun to fall and the chill air about him he kept pushing on, going numbly forth into my front yard. He turned the knob to the front of the house and stumbled in, falling forth and splaying the both of them onto the floor. The next I saw was blackness.**

**Within a few hours, Shiro awoke in a bed in the hospital wing of the house, Lion sitting nearby staring at the floor with his soft, easy violet eyes. He glanced over as the boy sat up and smiled troubledly, getting to his feet and approaching Shiro.**

**"Hey, kiddo.**** How're you doing?" he asked, tilting his head and still smiling.**

**"My head hurts…" he answered, holding it in one hand.**

**"Well, all in all, it should, boy. It looks like you took some awful blows to the head." He explained, shrugging. "What happened, anyway?"**

**"You'd never believe me if I told you." Shiro explained, a bit of slur to his voice. He suddenly snapped to attention. "Where's Kasumi?"**

**Lion pointed to a bed nearby, where she lay soundly as Houndour and Growlithe played around the floor of the room and under the beds. Occasionally, a Meowth would show up, dashing about and darting under the covers. "She's fine, just about the same injuries as you, but less intense."**

**"Hmm." He muttered, still quietly watching Kasumi.**

**"You dig her." Lion input from the background.**

**Shiro turned scarlet. "What?"**

**"Come on, it's so obvious! You're head-over-heels for the girl!" he offered, patting Shiro on the back.**

**"Don't touch ****me.****" The youth snapped, cringing. "Especially not there."**

**"Yeah, it was pretty torn when you came in. I don't think those pathetic tournament-mongers could've managed to do this to the great Shiro Sasaki." Lion snorted.**

**He stared forward for a moment. "Wait, how did you know that was my last name?"**

**"It's mine, too." He told Shiro, smirking. "A few years before you… died again, I met you after you escaped from the lab… remember?"**

**"That was you… wasn't it? I thought I recognized your face, it's hard to mistake you for anyone else." Shiro shook his head. "Hah. So you did name me."**

**"Aye, Shiro. I found you, raised you, and named you after my best friend… the one that raised ****me****.****" He glanced away, sighing lightly.**

**"Why so disappointed?" Shiro inquired, looking back.**

**"He died… when I was twelve." He explained.**

**"I see."**

**Lion nodded. "Well, it's not a big deal… not anymore anyway. I'm not one of those people who tend to dwell in the past like that. If I did, I wouldn't be as cheerful as I am, 'cause I had a pretty bad past. A rough childhood."**

**"Are you sure you had it as bad as I did?" Shiro inquired wryly. "I died, remember?"**

**"I'm sure." He told the boy, patting him on the head and causing him to flinch. He pulled his hand away as it was snapped at by the youth. "But I had fun for the most part. I'm not complaining."**

**"I wish I could say the same."**

**Lion's smile faded slightly. "Things'll get better, Shiro-boy. I know they will."**

**"You go on thinking that." He murmured, laying his head back down as the other exited. "Just keep thinking like that… you'll see. My life's going in a downward spiral, and it always has."**

**_Up until now, I never believed in angels or anything of the sort. I knew there was some sort of divine being out there, but I worshipped none of them because I didn't care. The devil has met me once before, and he knows more than he ever should, but I've escaped him once again… by the doing of an angel… and Archaeopteryx. The dragon that'd added to my woe and misery because I pissed him off… he came back and saved me, though I'm sure only because of Kasumi. She was a loyal to him, so I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted me to die down there._**

**_ Whatever the case, I've a new understanding of the forces of heaven and hell… at least… the ones of the Imnish realm. The Imn, not human, not creature, but alien… that must be what those insane beings that share the heads of myself and the others are…_**

**These thoughts brought him to sleep, as the day turned to night and passed us by.**

**_End Chapter #2_**


	3. The plot thickens

**Chapter #3:                                               The True Power of Love**

**_Life… why do I bother with life?_**

**_My life is like a lie. Every time I try to do something right, it ends up driving me even further down my endless path... Further yet down my inward spiral, leading to misery again. I had my moments, the times when I didn't feel quite so hopeless… mainly that was when I was around Kasumi, how good it actually felt just to remain in her presence. I truly felt like someone then. Like it didn't matter that she was an Arcanine and I was a Mewtwo… how I'd been left by every other girl I'd tried with for reasons inexplicable in a mere sentence. There had been few I actually felt true love toward, but it always turned out the same… because I was an assassin and the family didn't like it… because I couldn't afford to stay in one place for more than a night. Because I was rumored to turn on them._**

**_I felt as though I was losing her… Kasumi… because I was too secretive. She'd said it herself. She didn't fear me, she had no family to object to me, and I was no longer a mass-murderer, putting me in less demand. My reward still remained sky-high, but I was in protection at this place, where any outlaw could hide and wait out his sentence without fear. But because I felt that I shouldn't reveal myself openly…_**

**_Life was never fair, but it's taken its toll on me this time._**

**_Life is hell._**

**_                          Shiro_**

**Today, it all started with a dream. I was dead asleep in my room, easily having one of the strangest dreams I'd ever thought up… for the third time in three nights. This pattern, I thought, was strange, because the only dream I'd ever had repeat itself changed slightly from the last time. But this one… this one remained the same.**

**It showed Shiro, as his normal self, charging into an unknown target. He ran against a dark horizon, a blackish ground with dark walls of ominous size. A pillar of flame shot toward him, lighting the dark room, and he powered into it still, leaping through the fire and emerging with ash-black fur and alit appendages, like his ears and tail. His dewclaws were aflame and his eyes burned violet and dark silver.**

**He shook the embers from his fur and stared at a demonic hound, the same one Kasumi had once become, and leapt, taking back a hand for a swipe.**

**The dream ended there… never going any further, never revealing more to the scene… just stopping.**

**I awoke and stared at my alarm clock across my room puzzledly. "Only ****2AM****?" I inquired of it, not expecting an answer but staring around my dark room, the 3-CD player stopped because it'd already played through its rounds.**

**_"Only 2, indeed._****_ That's weak." _****Shiro said in an unimpressed manner, able to see my dreams, but not having the knowledge on how to access it as I did.******

**"Hey, can you blame me if I'm abnormally tired and out of my usual sleep schedule?" I muttered groggily, walking over to the lamp in the impression of an elephant just above my clock and turning the switch, flinching in the bright light that flowed into my rather large living quarters. I walked to my CD player and pressed the power button, trudging to the door in the opposite corner and walking down the stairs in my punch-drunk state to find something else to amuse me.**

**_"Watch me."_**

**"You're sure you know nothing about this dream I've been having?" I quizzed Shiro, trying to look for an answer and finding Lion asleep in my favorite chair.**

**_"Positive."_**

**I approached and sat on my Mewtwo, for lack of my chair, and snuggled in, because Lion is a very cuddly Mewtwo. I lay my head against his furry chest and thought for a moment. "Well, it just doesn't make sense. What do _you _have to do with a fiery Mewtwo?"**

**_"Got me."_********He answered simply, saying not more than five words at a time.**

**"If I can get to sleep, I'll see a shrink in the morning. If not, I guess I'll just go now." I began to contemplate how I would get there and how I would ever pay for it, seeing as I was the one that never carried any money and the one that never drove or really even got out of the house. I didn't know where a shrink really was, and well, I guess I had a bit of money, but certainly not enough to pay for it in case I did go.**

**Well, in my stalemate, I poked at Lion and still thought, stroking his head and rising from my seat, going off to find one of my sisters… either that or take what I needed from one of their rooms… how would they ever find out, anyhow?**

**I headed off to seek out one of my siblings and ran into no one for awhile, wandering about aimlessly until I finally decided to search my scientist sister's room. Hey, she may've been a real sciencey girl, but she was no forensics worker. She dealt with the matter of cloning and research for Team Rocket… or at least that was last I heard.**

**So I slowly entered into the domain of my smartest sister, being the only one any cleverer than her. Though she was book-smart, and I was sly. I'd also chosen her lair because she was a horse-anthro—Rapidash to be exact—and they don't necessarily _have_ the best of hearing. Not like a cat's or a dog's anyway. I slunk over the carpet with the quiet steps of a killer, though not with nearly as much skill, and paused while my sister turned onto her side.**

**_"Little help with the being silent thing?"_********I inquired of Shiro, knowing that he has the quietest way of walking known to mankind so far.**

**_"For the sake of your sanity?_****_ No."_**

**_"Not for the sake of my sanity, Shiro. If I get caught, I'm going to have one hell of a time explaining this to her." _****I explained to him, giving him a bit of a silent glare.__**

**_"I enjoy knowing this." _****He told me smugly.**

**_"Thanks."_**** I spat in return. _"Now help me or I'll wake her and turn into you!"_**

**_"Hah. Not much of a threat, there. I can disappear, remember? They don't call me the Phantom for nothing."_**

**There was a short pause. _"Just do it!"_**

**He snorted in disdain and took control, taking a few steps to become accustomed to my style of walking and causing my steps to slowly fade into nothing.**

**_"Her wallet's on the bedstand." _****I informed him, as he turned my poor eyes toward it and noted the black pocketbook. _"Just remember, she's a light sleeper… don't make any suspicious noises."_**

**_"Why'd you have to pick her room!?" _****he demanded of me, reaching slowly for the wallet.**

**_"I like her best besides Kaye." _****I reminded him.**

**_"Do you always do this to the people you like?"_**

**_"Mmhm."_******

**_"Remind me never to be your friend."_**

**I batted my eyes. _"Just make sure she doesn't have any alarms on her money and take the wallet!"_**

**_"Fine, fine, just don't bitch at me any longer, and don't ever become my friend." _****He reiterated, touching the wallet gently and swiping it, heading for the door again. He'd nearly gotten me in the clear and began to ease the door open, but a small creak began to emanate from the old hinges and I could've sworn she shifted again.**

**_"Remind me to thank you later." _****I said, returning to control of myself and escaping with the wallet in hand. I headed out the door and called my Evrappa—a newly discovered species from the Diamond League—to my side, mounting and riding off. I'd only just recently gotten used to how incredibly fast Evrappas run, about as quickly as a car or faster, and that was at a slow canter. Not to mention that my Evrappa was evolved from the normal form to Evrappa-X by way of—strangely—death, and then to Flame Evrappa, inspired by the sleek movement and fiery features, finally to Nitro Evrappa, the farthest stage as of yet and so far the most pleasing to the eye.**

**She had sky blue fur on her top half, an ivory underside, and flaming orange dragon's wings with elfish ears supporting gunmetal blades, much like most of her joints and appendages. One had to be careful riding a Nitro Evrappa, lest they wished to be lacerated. One of these horses would never harm its owner, but accidents may happen.**

**"Hey, Wildfire, do you know where the psychiatrist's is?" I questioned as she ran.**

**"Is that your destination, master?" she replied.**

**"Quit with the master crap." I told her flat-out. "And yes."**

**"Kay. Fine." She snorted and carried on. "Though you know you are the master, do you not?"**

**"I'm aware. It's just too formal for my liking." I told her. "All relationships should be casual."**

**"Alright… but just know, most of your monsters would still call you master, regardless of friendship or not." She looked back forward and skidded to a halt, leaving me at a large building and turning away, taking off.**

**I entered, clutching my sister's wallet, and going to the front desk to schedule an appointment. Apparently, from how I got an immediate response from someone, they weren't too busy. I was called mere minutes after and lead to the office in which my shrink worked.**

**I sat in the chair and awaited my psychiatrist, turning my head to spot none other than R-K-9e stepping in and recoiling at the sight of me.**

**"What are you doing here?" we demanded of one another.**

**"I have an appointment." I told her soberly.**

**"I have a job." She informed me, shaking her head.**

**Something within the confines of my sub-conscious mind snapped at that moment. "Wait, what happened to working at the coffee shop!?" she opened her mouth to say something, but I shook my head. "No, nevermind. Just forget it. I'm here for another reason, anyway."**

**She nodded. "Well, you know the drill. Just sit back, relax, and well, do whatever you see the people doing on TV, cause that's awful realistic for television."**

**I chuckled slightly. "Hmm. Well, I guess I should start out by telling you about this dream I've been having consecutively for the past three nights."**

**I began a lengthy description of the actual dream, having a colorful vocabulary and a way with words, I'm told… heheh. That just might be the reason I'm writing this story for all you nice people.**

**She nodded and listened, taking notes… though I'm sure drawing a picture instead because she never took me too seriously in the first place. She cocked a brow and tilted her head quizzically. "Interesting… strangely, I do know something about this flaming Mewtwo."**

**"Do tell." I asked, leaning back and watching the end of my tail as I twirled it about.**

**"Maybe later, I've still got some time left on my shift." She muttered, glancing at her watch.**

**"How long?"******

**"About ten seconds."**

**I batted my eyes and sighed. "Well, what else to expect from you? Honestly." I stood and began to walk out.**

**"Ah, ah, ah!" she held out her hand, black locks falling over her shoulder and dark eyes focused upon me. "R-K needs her cash."**

**I snapped my fingers. "Seeing how long it'd take you to notice. Just tell me the bill; it's my sister's money anyway."**

**She broke into a laugh. "You would steal?"**

**"Steal and lie I may, but never do I cheat." I laid a hand on my heart. "Swear to God."**

**"You shouldn't." she shrugged. "Of course, I shouldn't be such a hypocrite."**

**"Aha, you see?" I ticked my finger. "Nobody likes a hypocrite, R-K."**

**"Ah, shut yer trap. I'm sure you're just saying that to cover for when you've been hypocritical." She formed a smile from the corner of her mouth.**

**I countered her smirk with a bit of a grin. "Of course, but you _admitted _to being a hypocrite. Me? I try my hardest to avoid being one. Never put unto others what one would not do himself."**

**"You and your morals."**** She batted her dark eyes again. A glance toward her watch and a smirk told me that time was up for her shift. "Okay, now give me my money and get the hell out. I'll meet with you outside."**

**I paid with my sister's cash and found that she had so much money she probably wouldn't take the slightest notice… even if I were to go out on the town and spend like a rich girl. I thought better of it and began to head out, taking my place at the outside of the building and waiting for R-K.**

**It wasn't long before she showed herself in the clear. "Now… about this Mewtwo situation…"**

**"I know… it's strange. It seems as though I've heard of this character before, but I don't remember where." I murmured to myself, beginning to walk. "Kind of like my childhood."**

**"Hey, I'm off-duty; I don't want to hear about this kind of crap after hours." She jeered.**

**"Some psychiatrist."**** I spat at her, chuckling heartily afterwards.**

**She shrugged. "My mom was one, I guess I'm qualified."**

**"If you would _listen _once in awhile."******

**She pointed to her head. "Apathy."**

**"I figured. But yeah, this fiery Pokémon business has got me stumped. It's like this bedtime story I remember being told when I was real young." I began to reminisce.**

**She shook her head. "This isn't about bedtime stories… it's about us finding out for sure about Shiro being a flaming cat."**

**"Still, I can't seem to shake how familiar it is…" I gave a shrug. "Okay, what do we do first, senpai?"**

**"First, we………."**

**"Yes?"**

**"I don't know…" she smirked insipidly. "I just know that there's a certain set of, well… _guidelines_ that one must follow to become a flaming Mewtwo."**

**"Elaborate, if you would. I've all day." I coaxed, waving an arm.**

**She batted her eyes. "Get a life."**

**"I would if I knew how to define a 'life.'" I assured her cheekily.**

**"It seems, Kae, that you've lost your touch." She said somewhat superiorly, beginning to walk off.**

**"Eh?" I inquired in slight confusion.**

**"If you remember, I once said that it's impossible to have 'a life' as people put it. I was seeing if you'd correct me… but you've lost it."**

**I gave a horsish snort. "You're so predictable."**

**"I'm the predictable one now?" she asked, still wearing a cocky sneer.**

**"Of course.**** Always have been, always will be." I countered, following after her as she led us into the abyss.**

**"So yeah…" she said after the longest bout of silence ever between us.**

**"What?" I asked.**

**"I don't know… if you haven't noticed, I'm horrible at inciting conversation." She gave a light shrug.**

**"Oi… and my friends wonder how I put up with you."**

**"You have other friends?" she demanded.**

**"Quiet." I focused forward, looking into the night sky. "You know, it's times like these that you forget right after they happen… y'know, the dull moments of our life."**

**"I guess."**

**"I mean, if something doesn't happen sooner or later, I'm just going to forget about that crazy dream." But something inside me argued that I wouldn't.**

**"Eh… maybe."******

**I stretched my arms and kept walking. "This is getting boring."**

**"But you can't expect something to happen every time we see each other." She offered dully.**

**"Watch me." I retorted. I glanced into the darkness to find that we'd wandered onto a small isthmus branching from the mainland and leading to an island where a castle stood in the distance. "That's odd…"**

**"Yeah… never seen a castle around here before."**** She added.**

**"Let alone such a nice one…" I built onto the remains of her sentence.**

**_"You're an idiot."_**** I heard Shiro input from in my head.**

**"Yeah?**** What for?" I countered.**

**_"You're going inside the thing?" _****he questioned, still keeping to his five-or-less-words limit.**

**"Sure, why not? It's not like anyone lives there or anything. I mean, you don't see the Teutonic battalion marching out to combat us, do you?"**

**_"I sense a presence." _****He hissed. _"And not just some hermit who wound up living here because he had nowhere else to go."_**

**"I knew it!"**

**_"What, that you're an idiot?"_**

**"No, I knew that you'd have to say more than five words at a time sooner or later."**

**_"…Shut up."_**

**"Kay!" I said joyfully, heading for the castle and examining the rustic look to it. The style was obviously very old, but well-made and taken care of. Vines crept up the walls and about the entire area, there was a** **sort of feeling that could make one's neck hairs bristle… as though it'd been a battleground, burial ground, or both. The Gothic style about the place suggested that it'd been built by Germans, but the manner in which it was decorated was far too oriental to be European. Japanese-style doors and various reds indicated that this was no Dutch castle.**

**_"Because in case you didn't catch it, this wasn't the first time I exceeded the five-word quota."_**** He continued.**

**"That's nice…" I murmured, still studying the old castle.**

**R-K tapped my shoulder and pointed upward.**

**"Eh?" I watched the swirling misty vortex above the place and chuckled. "Is that the reason you get a bad omen from this place, Shiro-boy?"**

**_"Not the only reason… you know I'm sensitive to energies…"_**** he ended quietly.**

**"Well, if anything, that'd be the most obvious clue."**

**_"You seem to have nerve for a lass… if I can even call you that after what I've seen." _****Shiro retorted, as I came to approach the building.**

**"Say what you wish, you know you really don't have ammo." I told him quietly.**

**_"Not to mention forgetful."_**** He added as an afterthought.**

**"Elaborate." I pried, warily turning back an eye.**

**_"You already forgot that you were asking your friend a question not long ago. Even I remember that." _****He sneered.**

**"You know, you're like that little voice inside my head that ran away after I stopped listening to it." I said back to him, beginning to head into the castle before me.**

**_"No common sense, either." _****He muttered nonchalantly. I must admit, though, I'd always loved how powerful his voice was… 'either' with a strong 'I' instead of the weak 'E.'**

**"I have common sense, Shiro. I just have the curiosity of a feline as well."**

**_"Don't talk to me about feline curiosity." _****He spat.**

**"Right, right.**** Got to remember that you're the only masculine cat-boy I know."**

**A short pause turned into a ringing silence. _"Come to think of it, you're right."_**

**"See? Lion's a girly cat-boy, his sons are girly cat-boys, and well, okay, maybe I can give a good word for Shadow, but not anyone else." I explained further.**

**_"Come on, even I could've guessed that."_**

**"Point though you have, I still want to explore the castle."**

**_"Go nuts." _****He offered dryly, clearly not enjoying himself.**

**I walked toward the castle and motioned for R-K to follow me. She seemed to have no obligation tailing me, but she looked as though she was unsure about my motives.**

**"So, why did you want to go in here anyway?" she asked.**

**"You know me. If I'm not poking around out of curiosity, there's something wrong with me." I assured as we followed a narrow passageway.**

**_"Well, you're certainly brilliant, aren't you?" _****Shiro inquired of me, his tone drenched in sarcasm as always.**

**"What?" I countered, looking about and watching the hall pass by us, pictures of various things adorning the walls.**

**_"You're venturing into the unknown completely unarmed and off-guard." _****He muttered.**

**"I'm blissfully ignoring this fact because you're around, Shiro-boy."**

**He gave me a strange look. _"Why are you being an idiot because I'm around?"_**

**"You're a kick-ass swordsman and you took on Azreal not long ago without any hope of winning!" I reminded him.**

**_"So all of a sudden, I've apparently become your savior?" _****he sneered.**

**"EEYUP."**** I answered.**

**_"And what, might I ask, has made my presence your haven?" _****he continued sourly. _"If you've not forgotten, I still hold you and everyone else on this planet in contempt."_**

**I decided to keep this next message personal. _"Even Kasumi?"___**

**He never did break the silence, so I felt I had to do so myself. "Well?"**

**He left me in silence for a few more moments until finally uttering an answer _"Not her."_**

**_"Then talk to her." _****I thought, still keeping my messages secret. _"I saw you back down in the hells… you're such a damn romantic, she'll fall for you easily."_**

**_"You're daft, woman… She's smarter than that. She'll not fall prey so easily to mere words and sweet nothings." _****He bit back, his snap quite a might worse than his bark.**

**_"You say this as though you've but tried it… if you simply express your feelings in a cool and kindly monologue, she'll bend to your will like a lovesick pup." _****I explained. _"Nothing sways the fortress of a mistress like the serenade of a man she adores."_**

**_"You read too much Shakespeare." _****He murmured.**

**"I like Shakespeare." I retorted. "Especially Romeo and Juliet."**

**_"I'll leave it at that."_**

**"Actually, now that I think about it; Shiro and Kasumi, or SK, is just one letter off from Romeo and Juliet, RJ." I told him, sketching the letters on my palm with a handy pen and sniggering.**

**_"Be quiet, insolent stooge!"_**** he cursed. His cheeks blushed rosily and his lip curled in spite.**

**"Why, is Shiro-Shiro getting embarrassed?" I teased aloud.**

**_"Say another word, raven, and I'll never speak to you again."_******

**I could tell he had absolutely no liking for birds, because he spat the word 'raven' with the utmost loathing. "Alright, alright… I'll keep my peace, knave."**

**_"Ere, you can now shut your mouth and allow me control of this situation." _****He growled.**

**"Fine, go ahead. I'm getting tired of walking anyway." I let him become himself, my presence slowly fading into his.**

**As he continued on, Kasumi had taken R-K's place as well. A strange presence lingered about, making itself obvious… though giving no hint to its entity.**

**The first clue came when the two were heading forth into the darkness. Shiro, pacing upon four delicate legs hinted by masculine figure with the definition of muscle, found his forefoot caught and stumbled forth. As soon as he rose and checked the ground for wires or hidden traps, both he as well as Kasumi were already suspicious.**

**"What the hell?" she inquired, as he reported that there had been no interference so far as planted traps. Of course, her reasoning only existed because she along with the rest of us knew that a cat was a creature of refined balance and grace… hence, Shiro had never been clumsy a day in his life.**

**"It's more than just peculiar… that much I'll say." He grumbled.**

**Kasumi, in the midst of all the staring eyes in the paintings littering the walls, gave a subtle nod. "More than peculiar 'cause you're supposed to be the graceful one… s'not like you to fall on your face."**

**"Oh, thanks." He sneered with light sarcasm dressing his eerily dark and sumptuously alluring vocal notes.**

**"You're welcome." She answered brightly.**

**The continuing went on in silence, though the strange and warning presence remained and lingered to haunt them. In only a few seconds, the paintings lining the corridor grew steadily more gruesome and glared with red eyes aglitter and emaciated faces nearly starved to the bone.**

**"That's just kind of unnerving, eh Kasumi?" Shiro inquired backward of her, a slight pause extending into silence. He turned back his head and scanned the hall, narrowing his mismatched eyes, one of lavender, the other blanc. "Kasumi?" he muttered back, scanning the never-ending hallway for his comrade and hopeful companion.**

**_"She disappeared." _****I offered quietly.**

**"Noooo, she just _ran away_." He jeered. "Of course she disappeared, Dumbass."**

**_"Well sorry for giving my two cents." _****I told him, falling back into silence.**

**"Your money's not worth anything here." He smirked, telling me. "You're paying with Wong."**

**_"But I have Yen as well, in case you're interested."_**** I offered.**

**He snorted. "Save it. It'll be worth something if you have enough." He continued to pace down the hall, his broad, thick-boned limbs taking every stride with ease. He hung his head as though in shame and watched the room from his down-to-earth point-of-view. His prominent brow hid his gleaming eyes, so adorning such a brilliant glitter that they shone through the shadows, piercing the hearts of any who stared into them.**

**As soon as his progress carried him further into the bowels of the castle, he came to a darkened battlefield, covered by deepening darkness that added a foreboding shade to the painting… so it was that it seemed, such a still and quiet scene that it could be mistaken for a work of art.**

**A chilling howl echoed into the room and reverberated back to him, causing his fur to stand on end. By nature, a cat is easily startled by a hound's cries… and much as he disagreed for himself, he was no exception. He scanned the surroundings for a clue as to her presence, a part of him secretly longing for Kasumi… for solace escaped him when she went away.**

**A ghostly set of pawpads gently scraped the floor, growing closer with every second. He still skimmed the background for a possible culprit, but none dared show themselves as the steps approached, keeping to a steady pattern of two gentle steps, followed by two more in succession.**

**After what seemed like an eternity where Shiro was warily watching the shadows, a figure with gleaming eyes similar to the pictures emerged, wily black locks and bloodred slashes more than familiar to the small white cat. He stood his ground calmly, though his heart stood still and he knew that he was in grave danger if his thoughts were accurate. And usually, he wasn't one to misunderstand or misinterpret a situation.**

**The figure, long fur flowing as if there were a constant wind, halted mere feet from Shiro and stood, in the sense that it was awaiting command. No answer to its obedience supplied, it continued to stand and stare.**

**"Kasumi?" he inquired of it, receiving a homely glare.**

**_"I hope you know, she won't answer you." _****A wry voice explained to him.**

**"Explain." He demanded of the strange one.**

**A slight pause answered him._ "Rather than explain, I think I'd like to show you instead."_ With a sharp snap of the fingers, a fierce growl faced him and Kasumi approached.**

**"Oh, this is showing me? I'd say it's mind control." He offered with a humorous nonchalance, though backing away with every intent on staying alive.**

**_"I'd have to say you're right…" _****the voice sneered mockingly. _"Though you have no idea how _complete _the control I possess over her really is."_**

**"All joking aside, I think I can guess." He muttered. He kept at a negative advancement, never taking his eyes off of Kasumi or averting his attention from her sleek pelt lining accented muscles able to tear him limb from limb… from her dagger fangs or blackened claws that were able to sear his already weathered flesh to a point beyond recognition… her gleaming eyes that, by natural instinct, lusted for his blood.**

**She stopped with slow advancing and bounded forth on powered limbs, initiating a chase between two of the longest-running natural enemies in the animal kingdom. Though Shiro was far from cowardly, he knew her strengths more than he knew his own… and he was smart enough to avoid what could easily kill him. He kept at an excruciating pace, running himself ragged and finally coming to a point where he could offer a counterattack.**

**As she kept after him, lunging forth at certain intervals and causing her onslaught a slight pause, it seems that the two had run into a wall, and this could be used to her advantage… had her foe not been an agile genius.**

**Shiro leapt and pushed off the wall, landing solidly atop her back and causing her to stumble. He darted the other way and skidded to a halt, awaiting her next move as she stiffly returned to the fight. She shook her shaggy maw and curled a black lip at the tiny cat.**

**He took off, rocketing forth with short, yet rapid strides. His dash toward her seemed to be a mere pesky advance, and the massive pitch-dark dog opened wide her gaping jaws lined in deadly fangs, a surge of flame erupting from within her throat and soaring toward him. He leapt into the scorching flame and emerged upon landing with jet-black, ash-colored fur, dressed in various flames and dancing patterns of fiery colors. He shook himself off, sending the last of the dying embers in his fur flying into the air around him, flaring with the pressure of falling, until fading into nothing upon landing.**

**His almost gothic animation as he slowly crept forth on sleek and streamlined paws appeared to hold her in mystery as her beforehand contemptible glowing orbs widened in wonder. His still steely and unmatching hawkeyes remained narrow and stared with his intense, stimulating gaze that seemed to drill into the very soul. Without warning, he took to a dash, nearly flying with his dancing lope. His paws made no trace of a sound as they hit and passed the ground, and like a phantom, he reached her and leapt into the space between.**

**Time stood still as he took back his hand, dashed with serrated claws, and let it fly… and the dream didn't end this time.**

**In the stretching seconds turning unlawfully into minutes, Shiro's frontal appendage struck Kasumi with force enough to stun a horse. She fell to the earth in a daze and allotted Shiro time to explain his rules to the other presence who seemed to be lingering about.**

**_"You're good, Shiro… perhaps too good." _****The voice responded to his advance. _"Though you are a bit late to help her… because unless you kill me, you'll be enemies forever."_**

**The small boy had already been in distress over having to knock her out… it seemed he was a bit too sensitive about her. However, this changed nothing now except that his hatred was stronger. "That can be arranged." He hissed to the other menacingly.**

**_"Oh, a smart Alec, are we?" _****it inquired of him, a pair of dark, moss-green eyes shining into the light. _"Typically, your kind are hardly welcome in civilized society… whether they're funny or not."_**

**"Maybe I'm not… why should it bother me?" Shiro countered. "I do believe I'm at a stalemate with humankind as well as their little monsters. They hate me… and I hate them. There is nothing wrong here."**

**_"Oh, then you wouldn't mind my killing you right here and now?" _****the voice queried offhandedly.**

**"No, see, there's where I draw the line. I live to cause pain to others… and nothing can change that. But I have more life to live, my time is far from exhausted in this harsh succession of tortures and lessons we call life."**

**No reply was there to combat him. _"Go on. This is getting interesting."_**

**"No, I'll not continue. I don't live to serve, as some do, and I don't see why they do in the first place. My life is an ongoing metaphor. A continuing, ebbing, downward spiral into what some of us like to call the abyss. I have no meaning, and if I've come across it, it's ignored me and long passed me by or left me in the fray. My intellect can be dizzying,"**

**_"As I can see…" _****the voice offered quietly,**

**"And those that choose to listen to my ranting often walk away stupefied or lose all patience in the gist of it and remember my far-gone understanding as something only I should care about!" he spat, allotting a slight pause, as though awaiting the other to become fed-up with his rambling. "I hate the human race, the Pokémon race, and every beast or beastling that has ever inhabited this earth in some way or another, just to different degrees! Why I should even respond to such a phrase as 'go on' when it is my absolute _dejection _to even think about!? You've no power over me, and that much keeps me alive…"**

**_"Well, you certainly have a complex outlook on right and wrong. I must say, your personality is appalling, but you've a great mind." _****the eyes seemed to rise as the creature apparently stood. _"Shame to have it go to waste like this."_**

**"I'm appalling? You manifest and overrule a creature's mind and call yourself my opposite?" he demanded.**

**_"Aye, but I do it with intent to rid the planet of the curse you've set upon it."_**** The bold voice announced.**

**"Oh, so now you're some kind of hero?" Shiro spat.**

**_"Nay._****_ I do it not for anyone but myself. I am all I have left, but the hideous plague you've introduced is as bad or worse than anything I could do." _****the eyes narrowed. _"If not for your valor as an artisan, you would be the sole worst, loathsome, insignificant dog on the face of the Earth."_**

**"So now you slander hounds, as if their name is one to be spat upon?" he questioned calmly.**

**_"Canines and only canines are deserving of such malign jeers."_**** The voice responded.**

**Clearly, the boy was insulted by this. "I'm not one to stand up for anyone else… but discrimination is despicable."**

**_"You, of ALL people, are insulted by this?" _****the other inquired, cocking a brow.**

**"Aye."**** Shiro answered. "Only because of the belittling I've gone through… because everyone thought they were better than me."**

**_"And they shouldn't? You appear to have disgracefully lost every bout you've ever been in!"_**

**If anything, that'd been the final straw. "Look, I know _your_ kind! I live around them every day, and they drive me to my very end! It's because of people like _you _that I began to kill them off! You _sorry, loathsome worms _who get a kick out of making someone else feel lower than you!"**

**The other's dark eyes flashed, narrowing dangerously. _"MY kind!?__ What about your kind, who give us all reason to feel that low!?"_**

**"What is it about 'my kind' that makes the lot of you feel like dirt!?" he demanded. "Honestly, I would give _anything _to have a little dignity!!"**

**The figure stepped forth from the shadows, revealing himself to be an elder of the same species. His form was clean, and his figure was finely formed, with a face that was definitely carved by the best of sculptors. His cheeks were strong,  his chin was weak, and his eyes burned with hatred. Though somehow, he reminded me of someone. _"And I would give anything for a bit of pride."_**

**"Don't lie, you wouldn't think twice about keeping it after you've been host to it for as long as I have." Shiro spat at the elder.**

**_"By my name as Shinzo Dokuro Ikube, I'll send you to your grave, Sasaki."_**

**"If I'm to go to an early rest, then yours shall be well-timed…" Shiro countered. "Because I won't go down without taking you along."**

**_"It shall be done." _****The taller Mewtwo hissed.**

**Shiro lunged in the blink of an eye, the other Mewtwo taking to the skies and causing him to miss. He coiled back and sprang, his long, binding tail giving an agitated twirl before he took off. His leap came up short again, however, and the other attained a light emerald glow, forming an energy between his hands and tensing, holding one arm in the other hand to fire three blasts of a similarly colored fire. The tiny boy dodged the first two with ease, a simple leap back and to the side avoided them. As the third rushed for his face, he spun about, the fiery appendage on his back end sending the ball of infernos back to its owner.**

**Shinzo held up a weak guard with his frail arms, the attack beginning to dissolve in mere seconds. With a moment's pause, the elder chose to fire several more attacks, though these were more controlled than the fiery blasts. They seemed to swing back for another round when Shiro leapt aside.**

**Quick notice was taken of this, and Shiro dodged the next passaround to look at his foe. The control, he found, was all up to Shinzo. He knew his disadvantage was only due to his refusal to mimic Shinzo's battle style. If he used the abilities he'd been given by his species as a Pokémon… well, as far as he was concerned, he'd be sinking down to the other's level.**

**Shiro continued to concoct a plan while the translucent balls of energy persisted in pursuing him. They seemed no threat, but the boy was not one to be deceived by appearances. Looking about the room, he took sudden notice of a ladder leading up to a risen platform, and with that in mind, he made for it.**

**Within seconds, his flight had caused Shinzo's attacks to come crashing into the earth where he'd stood mere seconds ago. At this the elder gave a disgruntled snarl, sending twice as many back toward the fleeting foe.**

**Shiro leapt half the ladder in a single bound, climbing the rest with the sureness of an ape. He hoisted himself up onto the platform and made toward his opponent, who'd been unreachable before. However, his onslaught came to an abrupt halt as his opponent flew before him and caused him to double back.**

**Shinzo grinned eerily and pulled his hand in toward himself. For a moment, Shiro gave him a perplexed look, trying to find the reasoning for it. As soon as it'd come back to him, he glanced behind him to find the orbs coming up quickly at an interval of maybe two feet.**

**He cursed himself in the moment before the orbs hit, each following into an explosion on contact. As soon as the smoke cleared, he was left crippled before the other, at a loss for movement in any of his limbs.**

**_"So, this is how it ends, Shiro?"_**** the other queried wryly. _"You lying at my feet when you proposed it wouldn't happen…"_**

**"Who… ever said I was lying?" he returned, lifting off his position on the floor and slowly, shakily moving to the stance he'd had beforehand.**

**Shinzo stood in shock, his expression torn between an attempt at staying calm and a furious surprise, his lip curling and eyes wide, yet narrowing.**** _"How!?__ How do you stand when you are defeated!?" _he demanded in frustration.__**

**"I'm not defeated…" Shiro responded mysteriously. "Just a stumble in my stride, is all… a thorn in my paw at most."**

**_"Your strain is clear, boy… I hear it in the depths of your singsong voice." _****The other sneered, watching him stagger to his feet and struggle to stand there. _"The crow caws for you."_**

**"Such a rat of a bird, when a raven be more lovely?" he inquired, limbs shaking violently as he leaned against the rail of the platform for a means of support. "I'd rather the more musical of the birds of death were to sing for me."**

**_"As you may… a dying man's request is one I'll not ignore." _****The elder muttered. _"The raven sends her greetings for you this day… heed her call."_ He advised, forming another ball of energy upon his hand, casting the rest of him into shadow.**

**"All is well, then." Shiro ended quietly. "Because the raven's song be my sign of luck… always has…"**

**Shinzo gave him a perplexed look, the ball growing more mass with each passing second.**

**"And my luck is all I have." He said more loudly, coiling and leaping before his foe could anticipate any movement at all from him. He stood atop the other Mewtwo and, noting his fiery patterns had been lost with his power as the explosions hit him, he held the other pinned to the floor and extended his claws, pressing upon Shinzo's neck. "But then… you never would've thought I was such a quick healer, would you?"**

**_"'Twas an act!?" _****the elder demanded.**

**The short boy nodded slyly, staring with his empty eyes.**

**_"And I fell for it…" _****he nearly whispered.**

**"Say your prayers, you'll be going to hell now." Shiro sneered, choking the other with his hand and serrated claws. Something caught his eye, however, and he hesitated. As this happened, Shinzo slipped away and a pillar of flame hit the wall, curling around and hitting the elder, the wave of heat stopping short of himself.**

**Shinzo took to the sky and growled toward Kasumi, who'd finally come to. _"Attack him! Not me!" _he commanded her, pointing to Shiro.**

**Who, meanwhile, had climbed atop the railing and looked to his two options. He slunk toward the other silently and while he wasn't watching, leapt out to catch hold of his tail. He climbed unsteadily and used his claws as hooks to keep his hold in the flesh of his enemy. As he advanced, the other losing altitude and crying in pain while he literally lacerated his foe's skin, he used his readiest limb to try to copy his own scars.**

**Shinzo, fed up with the abuse, blasted him off with another burst of emerald energy and found that Shiro clung to his leg and only dug his bloodstained claws in further.**

**Shiro advanced again and used Shinzo's shoulders as handholds, staring him in the eye. "Hmmm… it's very becoming on you…" he sneered. "Just one final touch." He took his right hand back and created a vertical slash over the other's left eye. He looked once more upon his masterpiece and broke into a devilish smile, a chuckle, and then a laugh.**

**In the meantime, another blast of flame was shot, knocking the both of them out of the air. Kasumi had stood too close, however, and though Shinzo fell painfully to the side, Shiro landed atop her head and knocked them both to the ground.**

**Shortly after waking, Shiro found his throat blocked, and an immense pain sent screams of agony through his body. He wondered what could be the cause of such strange symptoms, but as he glanced to one side, all that returned to him were eyes of the most vivid red. Eyes he knew all too well as once being bright and oceanic blue.**

**In the backdrop, the elder Mewtwo had been cheering her, rooting and continuing to laugh in the manner of a madman. _"You'll be dead in mere minutes, Sasaki, and then I'll put to rest your beloved!" _he paused only to enter another laugh. _"I've no need for a mangy  hound in my castle… and she'll be as good as dead anyway."_**

**He sighed in dismay, at being moments away from death by the one he loved. He played out his final thoughts with the last of his feeling—the only emotion he had left—and put his thoughts into words.**

**"Go ahead and kill me, for I would carry on to watch you from the heavens. And may I rest in peace if you should never love again." He told her in a quiet rasp with the last of his voice.**

**Within her mind, something seemed to snap, and she looked around the room with her now familiar crystal blue eyes. Her hold released instantly and she shook her head violently, staring at Shiro and watching him bleed. Her disgust, hatred, and fear all combined into one emotion as she looked on in horror. Her gentle eyes welled and she stepped back, only to hear insane laughter from the direction behind.**

**She snapped her maw back to find that Shinzo was in tears with hideous laughter, and loathing overcame what emotion she'd formerly had. Her lip curled in fury, her demonic fur standing on end and claws dragging along the ground, unable to retract. She glanced to her wings, still intact from when she had been under the elder's control, and back to Shiro, her eyes narrowing and her heart pounding madly.**

**_"Shinzo!!" _****she cried from the depths of her heart, the sound one of distress and sheer fury in the same essence.**

**The Mewtwo halted his laughter a moment and looked down upon her. _"Oh, so you're free now, are you?"_ he questioned with an infuriating nonchalance. _"It matters not. You've killed him, and now it's your own turn to parish."_**

**She answered his offhanded confidence with a vicious snarl, the earth about her giving an unsteady quiver. Her black wings spread and she charged, bounding forth and powering toward him with all she had. She reached him in moments, outstretching her broad paws and diving to drive them both out of the air. She landed harshly with her claws at his heart and her jaws dripping with Shiro's blood.**

**Shinzo turned to her, seeing nothing but her bloodthirsty eyes before him and letting loose a scream before she silenced him. A digging motion from her front-right paw pierced him and tore him open to reveal a wave of vivid blood. She looked upon him one last moment to make certain that he was dead and turned back, losing all demonic essence as she dashed towards a lifeless Mewtwo she knew too well.**

**"Shiro…" she called desperately, not necessarily expectant of an answer. "Can you ever forgive me?" she asked of him, her pretty voice meek and mild. "My God… I've lost another one… this time forever."**

**A sputtering cough answered her tears. "Are you… quite so sure of that?" he asked, giving a weak chuckle to assure her. "I can forgive you if you're not."**

**She watched him in astonishment, actually managing to laugh. "No… not sure anymore, that is… actually…" she paused, smiling. "I was never quite sure about you to begin with."**

**He smirked. "So can I get a bit of, maybe, help? I hurt like bloody hell…"**

**"Anything." She assured, lifting him onto her back and leaving the castle to return to my place.**

**Once they arrived into the downstairs room, an unnerving silence answered them. Without warning, a tiny click sounded the turning on of a light and a figure sat near the lamp, draped in shadow.**

**"N-Nani!?"**** Kasumi demanded, looking upon the approaching figure and noting the studying violet eyes.**

**"Alright… what happened to him this time?" Lion inquired of her, his exasperation making him sound only more playful.**

**"What? How did you—"**

**"Know?" he finished, smirking. "I saw Kae leave earlier. She thought I was dead asleep when she sat on me, but I watch things around here."**

**"'Kay, that's _almost _creepy." Shiro offered from behind, his rasp still quite clear.**

**"No, what's really creepy is that I'm actually drunk right now." He told them. "Go ahead, you can smell my breath."**

**"I'd rather not, if it were up to me." Shiro joked.**

**"No, he's right… he's as drunk as a mule…" Kasumi muttered. "Well, how come you're still conscious and capable of rational thought?"**

**"One: it was just beer. Two: high tolerance to alcohol." He explained. "Now, let's have a look-see at old Shiro-boy there."**

**Kasumi set him atop the metal table and stepped away, looking somewhat guilty.**

**Lion gave him a quick glance and cocked a brow. "The hell?" he demanded. "The damage is all to the neck… his tube isn't touched."**

**"Fancy that…" Kasumi murmured nervously.**

**"My, you're acting strange." Lion offered, giving her a cautious look. "Ah, well…" he looked to Shiro and began to mend his wounds. "Now, this may not mean much, seeing as I take the blame for causing you the most physical pain… but I suppose it'll have to suffice." He sighed. "I only wish I could do more… repay you somehow…"**

**Shiro thought a moment and looked away, pushing himself to his arms and shakily holding his upper body in that pose. He took back his hand and lashed out at the other's face, causing the older Mewtwo to stagger back and stumble, catching himself on a shelf.**

**"Your debt is repaid." Shiro told him quietly, watching as he removed his hand, revealing three bloody gashes upon his handsome, youthful face.**

**When he awoke, he saw an emptiness; a dark room with nothing inside it.**

**_Dear mental diary, (heh); today I learned that opposites of different sexes may attract, but get two of the same together and havoc is wreaked. I don't trust what I don't agree with… but I've come to realize that others don't trust what they can't explain… this is a fatal flaw of humankind._**

**_Shiro_**

**_THE END_**


	4. A speed bump in a relationship

**_Chapter #4: The Legend of the Nowhere Man_**

**_In the depths of the human brain, there is a section that keeps hold of its fondest and most despicable memories. Where every day that it stores counts as either the best or the worst, and none besides those are even cared for in such a manner. My own mind is no different… it kindles only my best days; something of the present in comparison to the rest; and my worst… my wretched and abhorrent childhood, of which I never think to mention in civilized conversation. No less than torturous hell accompanied me until I turned seventeen… the age I am now. As a child no larger than a basset hound in my Mewtwoan form, I was treated in the manner of a spider, kicked around like the dog they thought I was, and belittled because I was… dare I say it? A runt._**

**_Hence was the reason I turned on humanity and took out half their species in a bloodthirsty rage. I have nothing against mankind… save for their greed and stupidity… and I had absolutely nothing against each person individually, but the human race had to pay for what had been done to me. Since I was a no-name clone without a history to back me up, I could get away with such crime unpunished unless I was identified, found, and caught… a probability that turned out to be less than being able to win the lottery… I never stayed in the same place more than a few hours and no living being had ever seen my face more than a few seconds at a time. That is, until I started dating._**

**_That was when I actually remembered my anthropomorphic form—I'd lied when the others were convincing me to become one… I knew well enough how to, since long before I was ten. I just wanted to humor them and let them think they knew something I didn't._**

**_It's a rare occurrence when someone is more knowledgeable than me._**

**_I met girls who had their own particular sense of attraction… many of them who thought I was Prince Charming, looks and all. Honestly, I believe I'm no more charming than a warthog, but to each his own I guess. My problem is, I'm a romantic. I read Shakespeare, watch sunrises at every chance, and I write… not your average testosterone-driven "manly-man" that won't admit he's wrong. That is, most of the time… I had to be a credible straight man, and 'romantic' doesn't always fit into that category. And of course… I won't dare let anyone push me around. I've taken too much of that abuse already._**

**_Females seem to be attracted to my type… drawn like ignorant moths to an open flame. And still, I have trouble understanding._**

**_I have these discussions with myself more and more lately… something that keeps my mind off what actually happened and directs the problem, nonetheless. I needed a bit of meditation so I wouldn't drive myself mad and turn to what I once was… what I was trying to get rid of. I admit, I was horrible and uncaring, absolutely wretched and loathsome to be around. A demon in wolf's clothing… because I certainly didn't look the part of an angel as much as I actually wasn't. I still have dead, weathered skin covered by tiger-stripe scars and never-healing scabs that seem to remain and taint my white fur crimson-slashed._**

**_It seems that since I wasn't one of those depression-addicts that were into self-mutilation, I was the punching bag—the rhetorical cutting board—for everyone else. Either way, I'm a mess of hacked flesh any way you slice it._**

**_Call me drab or long-winded; maybe even melodramatic, but I enjoy keeping my target on their toes… so they might be ready for anything I could throw at them. Unfortunately, there is but one person that has caught onto my drawn-out testing… her name is Lionell Meilin Sasaki. Of relation, but how exactly, I know not. Lion's wife, meaning that she married into the family; so Lion would have to be my relative somehow… her maiden name was Ikube._**

**_Being a college professor, I would hope she could handle my mind-games… though she was a smart girl. Always was. I had no reason to worry about her, even with her being married to that klutz._**

**"He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody…" I heard, as (speak of the devil) my fellow Sasaki approached. He was singing, and though his voice was a bit off-key, he wasn't bad. In fact, he seemed to be singing a chord of the actual pitch.**

**"What song?" I inquired sharply in my dark and villainous voice, causing him to start, and cease his serenading.**

**He looked back at me and sighed. "Oi, don't scare me like that, Shiro. I thought you were Char-Char playing a trick on me again… little bastard has a mousy voice normally, but he can mimic people surprisingly well, and he seems to have picked up on your voice lately."**

**"I see…" I offered. "I'll have to show him what the real Shiro can sound like, eh? He shouldn't become so big-headed."**

**"No, no, don't do that. You might give him a heart attack. I don't want him hurt, just to stop copying people. He's my best friend. Has been for… twenty eight years, was it?" he calculated mentally.**

**"Since you were a year old?" I asked of him, to make sure he was accurate.**

**"About, yeah."**** He agreed. "Though he was maybe five, then."**

**"Amazing, how that little rat is barely half of you and four years older." I offered, chuckling. "Though I'm one to talk."**

**"Oh, no, he was only kind of short… I'm massive." He assured, leaning against the tree next to me. "About… seven-foot four at twenty-nine. Yup, I could look down at most basketball players."**

**"I don't know _how _tall I am, but I'd rather not compare, lest I should demean myself." I told him simply.**

**"You?**** Well, Kasumi's about five-five; average for a girl; and—no offense—but you reach her breast level, so I'd have to say you're about… four-ten, four-eleven, five foot at most."**

**The embarrassing thing was; he was right. Four-eleven as a human… a wretched height to have to uphold, I tell you. Rightfully, I wanted to be at least five-four. That would be appropriate… I was past human puberty, as well as Mewtwoan, so in all rights, I was a………… midget. "Shut your fat mouth." I barked under my breath.**

**"Ha!" he called out, laughing. "There's that attitude I've grown so used to hearing from you. I was wondering why you were being so civil with me."**

**"Call it a good mood." I told him.**

**"A good mood?" he reiterated. "Strange; something I've never seen, but I seem to like it."**

**I managed a smirk. "Enjoy it while it lasts… the reason you've never seen it is because it's a rare happening."**

**"Next time, I'll get it on tape." He joked, chuckling.**

**I snorted. "Better get it now—there may not be a next time."**

**He shook his head, shooting me a sly gaze from above. "No need to worry," he muttered quietly, still grinning, "I _know _there'll be a next time."**

**His cool logic baffled me. Was it not only the previous day that he couldn't tell left from right? He was unyieldingly drunk almost every day of every week of his life, and yet… one had to wonder. What was he hiding? Behind his calm façade, hidden beneath his grinning face, something was going on in that mind… something no one thought could ever be. Screws were loose here and there, mainly in the areas of memory and priority, but the whole machine still yet functioned. And still to a considerable degree.**

**Being the son of that Mewtwo, Shadow, I suppose he would've had to be somewhat smart… but this was puzzling.**

**He gave me a strange look, cocking a brow. "Something on your mind? You seem distracted."**

**I shook my head slowly, and he turned away without another word. "Nothing." I assured him, turning back to take a second glance. Was he a wandering mind, like I was? Did he look to the heavens for his answers? Aye, his head was facing the clouds, and indeed, something deep was happening behind his violet eyes.**

**Thinking about this, I had to wonder how he'd inherited eyes so prominently purple when his father had silver eyes. His mother would've had to have the same color as him, or a dark pink to create such a color. Strange, how I was so fascinated with genetics and such. I was a mystery myself, but I could deduce anything about an individual if I was given their characteristics and those of one parent or child.**

**"Your mother had pink eyes, didn't she?" I inquired, just to be sure of my hypothesis.**

**He jumped at the sound of my voice. "What? I… I think so… I don't really know for sure. She died when I was really young."**

**"Why are you so startled when I address you?" I inquired wryly, actually becoming amused by his habits.**

**He shook his head. "That voice of yours is something else… and especially when you just say things out of nowhere. Majorly creepy, dude."**

**I laughed aloud. "You know, that's funny." I told him. "No one's ever said that before."**

**"Well, no one else I know pays as much attention as I do." He offered quietly. "I grew up with a keen sense of awareness."**

**"I grew up with an over-developed sense of vengeance." I admitted. "Just shows you where that lead me."**

**"I don't know how." He said quietly. "You were always so… blissful when you were that young."**

**"Until the tatters of humanity reared their ugly head."******

**He had nothing to say to that. But he did look back at me. "Perhaps… if the world wasn't so full of hate and prejudice, you would've never turned out like you did. Perhaps if there weren't people with a distraught sense of right and wrong, there would be no crime, no rape, no murder. Perhaps… if everyone knew everything they were supposed to…" he laughed. "That'd be one hell of a boring place, wouldn't you agree?"**

**I had to humor him. He had things straight, right out, and I couldn't deny what he was saying. The only thing I had left to wonder… was why fate had chosen me. Why I was the pawn to make the first move in the chess game; the one that made it to the other side of the board and became a queen, taking out every other piece on the field… because I had the power to?**

**"You know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, buddy. What's on your mind?" he asked.**

**I shook my head. "You know I'm not going to tell you, so why do you ask?" I countered. "I don't like to answer questions, so shame on you, then."**

**He shot me a whimsical look. "Why don't you like to answer questions? Deep-seated fear of incrimination or something?"**

**I shot him a vexed glare and snorted. "I fear nothing."**

**He laughed aloud, slowly shaking his head. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" he asked. "But everyone fears something. Even if it's a complicated chain of events having no relevance whatsoever, it can unnerve you and make you wish for things that you thought you could never demand."**

**He was incredibly suspicious. Not only was he describing an unknown notion to me, but he was also in-depth with his depiction and exulting a feel for his words as though it had happened to him. He had to be sober. "So, let me ask you one thing, Lion."**

**He turned his eyes back in question. "Hm?"**

**"How do you know so well?"**

**He seemed dodgy and evasive towards my inquiry. "I guess you could say I felt the same way when my best friend was killed." A short pause. "Not Charles, of course, but someone else."**

**"Who, then?"**** _Charles!? What a name for a Charmander…_**

**He lowered his head. "I guess you could say we were kindred spirits when first we met. It was shortly after my blood brother, Shiro, died." He explained. "Hence was actually the inspiration for your name…" he smirked. "That and the dude from 08th MS Team."**

**I remembered when I'd met Lion quite clearly. Many years ago, but still fresh in the bowels of my memories. He was the one that told me… that I wasn't just a number. That I was an individual. I was born a clone, but raised for a few short years as though I was his son.**

**"Yeah, you reminded me of my dad when I first saw you, but you also had Shiro's innocence then. He had no one, and then I came along… I guess you could say I offered life to him on a silver platter… but then again, that could go either way. He was _much _older than me."**

**"By how much?"**** I asked in sheer curiosity.**

**"Oh, more than a decade.**** He was very in-tune with his religion, and he told me he was a god, but I believed anything back then. I would've never thought a word against him." He laughed a slight. "He was a great guy. Even nowadays, anyone would believe him if he told them he was a god… mainly because he never said a word around anyone. But even though he was a barbaric killer who hunted his food, he was the sweetest, most docile person I'd ever met next to my mother. Sure, he came off as animalistic the first time I saw him as he was ripping the flesh from a dead carcass, but when I shakingly told him I wasn't scared of him, he just laughed and answered: Oh, you're not, are you?"**

**I nodded, keeping my words to a minimum.**

**"It was funny. For a bloodthirsty hunter, he had a slick and charming voice, almost inviting and certainly divine, if anything. It was strange how only three other people ever heard it."**

**"Really?"**** I inquired of him, thinking of my own voice and almost gagging because of how much I hated it.**

**"Myself, a girl named Genie, a man who went by the name of Nezumi, and… Kasumi."**

**I wasn't entirely sure he'd wanted to tell me that, because he knew I liked to pry… to know everything I possibly could, no matter the consequences. I think he knew I would speak to her if I found this out, and well, he was right. I planned on doing no less.**

**"The only reason Nezumi was one of them… was that I found out he was involved in Shiro's death… I don't know how, and I don't know why, but Shiro still trusted him." He ended quietly.**

**"Just goes to show you… you can never truly trust anyone. No matter how much they seem like the best person or even someone who could change, chances are—you're wrong."**

**He looked down at me, a serious, somber stare. "I don't think you really mean that. Because I still trust you… I know that you can change."**

**"How are you so sure." I returned, more a statement than a question.**

**"Because no matter how you try to deny it, no matter what you say about yourself… you're not like everyone else. There's something about you that no one else seems to have… it's understanding, Shiro. You get things… almost instantly, you see things that it would take many a lifetime to figure out. Therefore, you have the strength to welcome change." He explained, pushing himself away from the tree and heading forth at a lagging pace.**

**I tailed him at a reasonable distance, and it seemed as though he'd wanted me to follow him, because he picked up his tempo and led me deeper into the woods.**

**He was certainly quite the questionable one, his intentions never really clear and his trailing point hard to catch if one wasn't following everything he said… like myself, he was somewhat long-winded… like myself…**

**The more I thought about it, we were quite similar. I might've picked it up from when I was young and he took me in, or we might just have common ancestry. There was one thing that could clarify that… and I'd destroyed it. Team Rocket cloned me, and they abandoned me because I was simply mismatched. Because I had two differently colored eyes and I was no larger than a small dog… they left me to die… so I came back and killed the scientist bastard that created me and destroyed all of my files.**

**Thanks to Lion, I wasn't a number… I wanted my creators to know that as well as I did. No matter how annoying he normally was, I had to give him credit for who I am. He really wasn't a bad person—he was just so drunk he was stupid. I guess our views clashed more than one way.**

**"Alright, Shiro."**** He said, sitting promptly and facing me. "Fess up, you're hiding something."**

**"Oh, you're a brilliant one, though I would try my best not to be a hypocrite, Lion." I countered. "Don't think you've left me in the dark so easily."**

**"I didn't… I was just wondering; if you're such a horrible sonofabitch, what reason have you to be that way?"**

**"My logic may leave you in the dust. I don't think you're quite ready to hear my story just yet." I told him. Truth be told, I simply didn't wish to reminisce in my worst days.**

**"I don't believe that." He told me, staring with his almost piercing purple eyes.**

**"Believe what you will." I retorted. He said he trusted me, that much I knew already… but I didn't care. I wasn't going to tell him… I wasn't going to tell anyone what'd happened to me to make me what I am. Never was I going to have to relive it again, of that much I was sure. "But it's not going to happen."**

**The story was a horrid happening, time and time again, misery after misery. When I was one and a half years (plenty old enough to a Mewtwo) it began, and it screeched to a halt at seventeen… fifteen and a half years of torture, suffrage, and hopeless existing, begging to whatever god would listen that I would live to see the next day—I quickly became an atheist after that.**

**"Shiro, what have you got to hide? What's so bloody horrible that you can't bear to utter aloud!?"**

**"Everything!"**** I barked back, causing him to recoil. "Everything since I wasn't even two… up until now." I hissed. "Everything."**

**"Alright, I won't pry any further. Just know, that I intend to eventually find out." He assured me. "Someday."**

**"Don't get your hopes up." I told him, rising to my feet and beginning to walk away.**

**He stayed silent, looking to the sky again.**

**"By the way… you never really did answer my question." I added.**

**"Question?**** What question?" he queried.**

**I chuckled. "What song you were singing when you first entered."**

**He smirked. "Actually, it's called Nowhere ****Man.**** An old song by the Beatles, and I think you'd like it."**

**"Really, now?**** Muse me."**

**He laughed again, standing and walking after me.**

**_"He's a real nowhere man_**

**_sitting in his nowhere land_**

**_making all his nowhere plans for nobody._**

**_Doesn't have a point of view_**

**_knows not where he's going to_**

**_Isn't he a bit like you and me?_**

**_Nowhere man, please listen._**

**_You don't know what you're missing._**

**_Nowhere man, the world is at your command._**

**_He's as blind as he can be_**

**_just sees what he wants to see._**

**_Nowhere man, can you see me at all?_**

**_Nowhere man, don't worry._**

**_Take your time, don't hurry._**

**_Give it all, 'til somebody else lends you a hand._**

**_He's a real nowhere man_**

**_sitting in his nowhere land_**

**_making all his nowhere plans for nobody._**

**_Doesn't have a point of view_**

**_knows not where he's going to._**

**_Isn't he a bit like you and me?_**

**_He's a real nowhere man_**

**_sitting in his nowhere land_**

**_making all his nowhere plans for nobody…_**

**_making all his nowhere plans for nobody…_**

**_making all his nowhere plans for nobody."_ ****He ended.**

**"Gee, sounds like me." I mumbled to myself.**

**"Shiro, you have no idea." He assured, beginning to sing again. "Making all his nowhere plans for nobody…"**

**_Fin_**

**_Hah! You actually thought I'd end it there? Boy, you're gullible._**

**As I followed him, he began humming and I drifted off into thought. He was a musical individual, anyone could tell, and I wasn't entirely sure he was drunken or not. This attitude was normal for him, and sure, he was a bit smarter than usual, but not by much. I felt the need to inquire.**

**"Are you by any chance drunk?" I queried of Lion quietly, merely a curiosity in the works.**

**"Drunk as a skunk, little Shiro."**** He replied callously, a wave of his hand.**

**I shot him a look of scrutiny. "Then how are you so cognizant?"**

**"'Twas only a beer, boy… and I have a high tolerance to alcohol." He explained. "It all works, phonetically."**

**"Uh… huh…" I offered as a reply, not entirely sure what was going through that man's mind at any time, let alone now. "Why do you drink so much anyhow?"**

**He shrugged nonchalantly, crossing his arms. "It's addictive, and one of my old friends that I haven't seen in ages got me drinking in the first place…"**

**"So you're saying you weren't experimenting and simply gave in to peer pressure?"**

**"What, and you haven't?" he retorted.**

**"No."**

**He snorted. "Oh, I believe that for a second. Come on, you would've had to be convinced into something at least once in your life."**

**"Not that I recall." I answered, letting my voice trail off into silence. "Actually, I haven't had much contact with anyone, and when I did, I was the butch."**

**"Interestingly enough… I would've never imagined." He sneered in light sarcasm, batting his dark eyes girlishly.**

**"I caught that, Lion." I warned him. "Remember, I'm the king of sarcasm."**

**"Any reason?" he questioned.**

**I chuckled to myself. "Because I find it funny." I replied shortly. "Because I like to lead people on and prove how gullible or easily influenced they are… because I like to keep people on their toes and have them think for themselves instead of someone telling them."**

**"Has it worked?"**

**"No, not lately…" I admitted. "I'm starting to believe that people will never begin to think for themselves."**

**He waved a hand assuringly. "Don't worry, little Shiro… someday, people will start to catch on."**

**"Hopefully…" I added drearily.**

**He began to hum once again, this time a different tune than the one before. He slowly began to conduct an invisible orchestra, starting with the lyrics. "Yesterday… all my troubles seemed so far away… now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday…"**

**Thinking a moment, I recognized this song. Of course, I knew it well quite some time ago. I decided to take over for him. "Suddenly… I'm not half the man I used to be. There's a shadow hanging over me… oh yesterday came suddenly."**

**He watched me wide-eyedly, unable to continue his conducting and slack-jawed.**

**"Why she had to go, I don't know… she wouldn't say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday…" I continued, ending on a trailoff.**

**He shook his head in disbelief, and I had to wonder what for. I certainly didn't think there was reason… I hated my voice.**

**"Shiro… your singing voice… holy Jesus!" he cried. "It's like an angel just sang before me… Christ, man, you've got some talent!"**

**"Whatever." I told him.**

**"And then you go and ruin it by belittling yourself again. Damnit, boy!" he growled in frustration. "You have so little faith in yourself, let alone at all."**

**"Possibly because I've gotten no less than hell for most of my adolescent life."**** I told him. "It's not that I don't have faith… it's that I've lost it over time."**

**"Well, I guess that's an explanation, if anything." He murmured. "Though I would've thought your beliefs were as strong as your will; having lived as long as you did."**

**I shook my crown dramatically. "If my faith was as powerful as my will, I would've been dead long before I actually did… and I would be watching earth from the heavens by now."**

**In the distance, I settled upon something, spotting another creature approaching from the distance. How they knew where Lion and I were is still a mystery, but I suppose at least one person in this household had to keep track of the lout.**

**"Who's that?" he inquired, I'm sure noticing the same being I was thinking of. He was right in saying he had a keen sense of awareness.**

**"I don't know." I assured him, squinting to focus the only eye of mine that could see. However, all I could tell was that it was Mewtwoan.**

**"Seems familiar."**** He added. "Though being around here, you'd have to know just about everyone; seeing as they're your only friends 24/7."**

**He had a point; I barely ever saw anyone new around these parts. All the same familiar faces, more or less.**

**"Lion!" the creature called, in her normally more _pleasant_ voice. "Lion, come here!"**

**"Aw, shit… what'd I do this time?" he cursed. "Coming, Li!" he told his short wife, waving and taking off.**

**I decided I should take a little time off, wandering the opposite way, back toward where Shinzo's castle had been. Curiosity overwhelmed me for some odd reason, and I found myself helplessly wandering back to where I'd nearly met my demise for yet another instance.**

**Being a feline, I was bound by my wandering…**

**I came to the area where the elder had turned Kasumi against me. Tactless, instinctual bloodlust was all he had as an advantage against me in doing such… when emotion is much more powerful. She'd broken past the mind control when I'd told her in a subtle way how I felt; and I suppose it was proof… that she cared.**

**However, I could only be certain of one thing: she would never kill me if it was within her power to decide. Her feelings were another mystery… a shadow cast over me—the shadow of indecision. I could understand that she could never simply come out and tell me; but that was a matter of courage. I was reckless; not courageous… there is a difference. And that was what held me back…**

**As I wandered about in the shadows, I spotted the elder's corpse lying stilly longwise about the cold stone floor. I emitted a mocking chuckle at his state and thought a moment about how I could've been in his place. I was silenced only but a moment when I heard footsteps and a murmuring voice in the distance.**

**I backed into the shadows again, dubbed: 'The Phantom' by my peers in assassination for good reason. I watched the scene as a boy; whose facial structure seemed highly familiar, though his dirty blonde hair seemed nothing like what I'd seen before; entered.**

**A Nidorino tailed him, ears perked in case he should detect something. Of course, I was the only one there besides them; so what need he worry about unless he got on my nerves?**

**"Hey, Nido, come over here!" the boy exclaimed upon seeing Shinzo's lax form. "It's a dead Mewtwo… just like the one my cousin found."**

**_"'Just like the one my cousin found'?" _****I mentally reiterated. _"Just who is this clown?"_**

**"Hey, you think I should try what she did and like… become an anthro, too?" he asked the pink Pokémon behind him.**

**He simply gave his trainer a strange look, perking his ears as I noticed my breathing becoming audible for once. I quickly dealt with that problem and continued to spy from the shadows.**

**He gave no answer to the boy, suspiciously scanning the shadows in hopes to detect what he'd heard. To no avail, however, as I was a master of backstabbing; needing to be able to hide myself completely… not to mention a Nidorino's poor sense of sight when it came to night vision.**

**He lowered his hands to the elder's tail and shoulder, beginning to murmur in a foreign tongue that even _I _didn't know. I can speak nine human languages fluently; as well as all Pokémon tongues; so it was rare that I couldn't understand someone.**

**As I tried to decipher this foreign language, it seemed that he was finished with his chanting and he lifted his hands, the corpse of the other disappearing in a flash of light.**

**"Witchcraft…" I muttered under my breath. "Though without such, I wouldn't be here, either…" I stopped a moment to consider that and glanced back to the boy, now looking over his hands. "He must be the same race as Kae…"**

**The Nidorino snapped his head back, growling in my direction and dragging his paw along the ground.**

**"What is it, Nido?" the boy inquired of his rabbit Pokémon.**

**He reared and began to challenge me in his own tongue. Barking insults such as 'coward' and 'scaredy-cat.'**

**Being a feline, I was highly offended…**

**"Oh, so I'm a cowardly cat, am I?" I asked of him, allowing a paw to emerge from the darkness. The white fur and weathered skin suggested no less than what I was, and I felt my taught muscles loosen as I shifted my weight from that foot. My steps were so evenly-weighted that even _I _couldn't hear them most of the time. Such is the sign of a good assassin. Techniques to hide breathing and other noise were learnable, and by a master; could be perfected.**

**He held his ground with a wavering confidence, watching hesitantly as I revealed more of my haggard form.**

**"I don't appreciate your profuse, incessant taunting." I ended in a hiss, stepping completely into the light. I would've said catcalling, but I abhor cat puns.**

**The small rabbit began to back away, and if it'd had a tail, I'm sure it would be respectfully tucked between the hind legs.**

**"Nido, what are you doing!? Horn Drill!" the trainer commanded.**

**"I'm afraid that would be impossible." I informed him. "As your Nidorino is officially scared shitless." _Not to mention I'm an infinitely higher level than the pink rabbit… meaning the attack won't work._**

**The rabbit ducked back and curled into a non-threatening pose, shivering madly.**

**"Seeing as he knows what he's dealing with, I'll let him live…" I murmured. "Though as for you, I think you should leave; lest you wish to suffer said fate."**

**He jumped back, taking off immediately as he'd been told.**

**"Good." I told him, wandering out of the castle again. As I reached the outside and breathed in the clear air again, I began to think about how it felt to have someone listen for once. "Damn, it feels good to have an obedient listener for once in my life." I thought that over a moment, and emitted a dark chuckle. "Though it was merely out of fear that he chose to listen… damned humans."**

**I decided to wander aimlessly awhile and found myself in the outskirts of the city before I could decipher what direction I was heading. It seemed to be west, as I'd passed Kittomoto where I was born, and gone into the suburbs.**

**Walking about in broad daylight, I was more than suspicious; being who I was. If I'd wandered into the light by mistake, I could cause a disturbance… imagine that… just by showing my face. Even though I wasn't in a killing mood today; I would if I had to. It's not like some battalion of law enforcement was bound to stop me.**

**I glanced about—it seemed to be a quiet place. Though there was hardly anywhere that wasn't these days but for what was behind me. Peace and tranquility emitted from the scenery about me, and I felt more and more irritated being there. My blind eye proved more a nuisance than the normal lack of sight (not something that typically bothered me) as I trudged onward, glancing about and having to turn my head at every left.**

**One such instance, I felt the force of a cannonball ramming into my side and mowing me over. I leapt to my feet once more and looked about for the assaulter, eyeing a boy barely older than myself lying on the ground just to my blind side. I watched as he staggered to his feet, stumbling and glancing back. I could somehow notice that one side of his head was slightly flatter than the other, giving it a misshapen appearance. He blinked his eyes in misunderstanding, beginning to mutter an apology, when he seemed to have gotten his focus back and saw me staring down at him.**

**Immediately, his reaction turned from a humble "sorry" to a quivering silence; and his knees rattled violently as he only stared into my unforgiving gaze with his off-tan eyes. I did naught but offer a flat—emotionless-and-yet-with-one-brow-slightly-cocked-showing-that-I-meant-not-to-kill-him expression.**

**I held back the impulse to laugh. This guy was just staring back at me, as though I were the devil himself; even the Grim Reaper. Simply continuing to stare, I felt myself chuckling, slowly turning from a silent shaking to a full-fledged laugh. Even though I was in hysteria, the boy kept his distance and still shuddered violently. I barely had to _breathe_ and he was incapable of rational thought. Jeez, I could say "boo" in the slouchiest voice I could manage and he'd probably have a heart attack.**

**"What's with you?" I questioned him calmly, prying a smirk from the corner of my mouth, "You look like you have reason for me to kill you."**

**"N-n-n-nothing, r-really."**** He muttered, calming only slightly. "J-j-just… w-well, w-what are you d-doing here?"**

**His stutter was growing slightly more stated, but he still watched me through glittering eyes. "I was just passing by when you rammed into me." I explained placidly, watching him through stately sight in my remaining eye and cursing the blind one.**

**"My God, I-I'm sorry…" he offered pleadingly. "Y-you're not m-m-mad, are you?"**

**I snorted, causing him to recoil and curl into a tiny ball. "Mad? No. Actually, I'll be fine. I was just wondering what you were running from…"**

**"Me?" he repeated, his stammer completely dissipating. "My dad invited Asuka's parents over again… and they brought _her_. She's a horrible excuse for a girl; that much I'm sure of… but mayhap you'd like to see for yourself?"**

**"If to judge a woman… to tell her what she really is." I shrugged calmly. "If you're really so sure I'm not going to turn on you." Turning my sights away upon the phrase, I chose a small patch of grass to focus on.**

**"I don't know…" he muttered, sitting straight and pausing, staring at my face, quietly sizing me up. "Now that I look at you… you really didn't want to hurt anyone in the first place, did you?" he questioned.**

**"Until people taunting me and treating me like a dog broke the final nerve? No." I replied; a truthful statement.**

**"Then I trust you." He offered quietly. "Boku no onamae wa Yamaru desu … and you're a wanted man that goes by several names… so I'm not sure _what_ to call you."**

**"My personal favorite is Hellface… but none of them are my real name." I told him. "Phantom, Kenji, Akuji… they all only represent me." I weighed both sides, wondering whether I should tell him my name, until finally coming to a decision. "My name's Shiro."**

**"Shiro?" he repeated. "White?" he chuckled slightly. "I guess that makes sense."**

**"It means white?" I reiterated in question.**

**He shot me a look of query. "Oh… you're not native, are you?"**

**I snorted. "I don't know what I am… but actually; I've heard several meanings for my name… just not 'white.'"**

**"Oh… I see." He smirked. "I'm native. My dad's purely Japanese. Your name can mean one of four things: white, castle, fourth-born, or messenger of death." Slowly, he turned his head away. "I would expect the last one if I'd known that was your name. But Shiro is kind of cutesy for someone of your standing… don't you think?"**

**"Cutesy?" I batted back.**

**He shook his head. "Nevermind, just personal opinion. I think any male name with Shi in it is just kind of femmy."**

**"What if I were to say I thought the same about male names with 'maru' in them?" I inquired of him slyly.**

**"Then I'd have to say we're even, Shiro." He replied.**

**I laughed aloud, holding out a hand. "Then we're even, Yamaru."**

**He shook it, I could tell continually feeling sorry for my condition; as he was slightly repelled by my battered skin and rough hands. However, I'd extended my left hand, and he'd taken it with no problem. I often found it difficult to shake hands; being a lefty in a world of right-handed people… this was strange.**

**"You're left-handed?" I asked of him, taking back my hand.**

**"Ambidextrous." He replied. "You're the left-handed one, though."**

**"But of course." I told him, chuckling. "It makes me different."**

**"Have to agree with you." He admitted. "But I started out a righty." He told me, beginning to walk away.**

**"So, what is it about this dragon that's so bad?" I queried of Yamaru, referring to the girl he'd mentioned beforehand… Asuka, I think she was.**

**"See for yourself, and then you tell ****me****" he muttered quietly. "I want a second opinion before I decide how bad she is."**

**"Alright."**** I replied, beginning to think about this; and God, he was something… going from scared shitless of me to so calm, in only minutes. I had to let my curiosity run. Was he a coward, like implied when we first met… or was there something behind it? How could he be so quick to trust… to forgive…? Because what I'd done was far from humane, and he didn't seem to mind for a second.**

**If only there were more people like him… I could get along with whoever, and they wouldn't care what I'd said or done or thought about.**

**As he lead me inside, I glanced around; seeing that it was a quaint place… quiet and humble, just like the scene around it. I noted that he kept glancing back at me and I had to think a moment, glancing away, before he stopped.**

**"I'm just now noticing this… but…" he looked down upon me, though we were both sitting. "How can something so small be so evil?" he asked with a chortle. "I mean, you looked so massive when I first ran into you… but maybe that's because I was scared and lying on the ground…"**

**I knew this question would arise sooner or later. "Big things come in small packages, my friend."**

**"Nice proverb," he complimented.**

**"I get by." I responded callously, waving a hand.**

**"Well, just wondering. You always seem so huge when they talk about how you killed millions of people at the slightest whim and such."**

**I shook my head. "I'm only as large as a German Shepherd, really. And a small one, at that." I offered as nonchalantly as possible. He began to lead me out again, and I saw an elder of sizeable status with a sharp face that seemed oddly familiar walking next to a younger male in a stately fashion, holding his head high.**

**"Hey, dad."**** Yamaru said half-heartedly, continuing on.**

**I chanced a glance between them; indeed, they did look alike, but the elder wore a steely glare and walked so proudly… I had to wonder why Yamaru was so humble.**

**"Private!" he barked in a hoarse voice, causing his boy to stop. "Who… who is that accompanying you?" he asked, a break in his powerful dialogue.**

**"This is Shiro, dad." He told his father calmly. "He's a friend."**

**I could tell he wasn't so sure, as he did a double-take and his eyes flashed when he stared at me. "Isn't… isn't he that… Kenji boy?" he inquired, beginning to repeat himself again.**

**"That's just a name, dad. He's Shiro, not Kenji or Hellface or Akuji, or even Phantom… just Shiro." Yamaru explained calmly.**

**"I can't believe you would let a killer into this house!" he exclaimed.**

**"He's harmless, dad." Yamaru batted his eyes. "Believe me."**

**The elder had nothing to say to that. He remained in silence as I simply sat, waving my tail calmly.**

**"Then I'm holding you responsible for him." The tall Mewtwo growled. "Dismissed!"**

**Yamaru sighed, walking away. "Yep… that's my dad."**

**I glanced upward, thinking about what Kae had once said… "You'd love mine…" _Lion?__ Who doesn't adore the oaf? Well, me, for one… but he's not a bad guy… I don't exactly abhor his company._**

**"You have a father?" Yamaru questioned in disbelief. "Jeez, I would've thought you were an orphan… no offense."**

**"None taken.**** I would've thought the same." I glanced back. "I don't have a mother, though."**

**"Same." He offered.**

**"So you're a clone?" I inquired.**

**He shook his head. "She died when I was a year old." He admitted. "And ever since then, my dad's been horrible at dating."**

**I chuckled lightly. "Well, which is worse? Never having something or losing it at a young age?"**

**"Losing it."**** He told me quietly. "Because if you never had it in the first place… then you don't know what it's like to have it slip away from you."**

**"That was deep." I murmured.**

**"Oh… that's just ****me.****" he answered a bit nervously. "I'm the kid that gets beat up all the time because I'm a nerd and a poet."**

**"I'm just the loner." I told him.**

**"So why so easy to talk to?" he questioned wryly.**

**I smirked, remembering a line from one of Lion's animes, that "Hot Ice" Hilda had said herself. "Even a loner needs company sometimes…"**

**"You watch Outlaw Star?" he demanded.**

**"I try to catch it every time Lion's watching it." I admitted.**

**He smirked slyly. "Who's your favorite character?"**

**"Hilda."**

**He smirked. "I like Suzuka."**

**I had a deeper secret than that, however… and I liked Hilda better merely because she was a beautiful space pirate with dark hair and golden eyes, and her personality was something else. But he said Suzuka… so I had to wonder if he had a thing for killers. He certainly wasn't scared for long when he ran into me, and "Twilight" Suzuka was hardly an innocent.**

**"I like Hilda, too… but Suzuka's mine." He sneered. "But who's the prettiest?"**

**I chuckled, smiling. "No-brainer." I told him, feeling weak in the knees. "Aisha ClanClan."**

**"Melfina for ****me.****" he said quietly.**

**"But enough about Outlaw Star…" I let my voice trail off.**

**"Yeah, you're drooling."**

**I wiped away my mouth. "Shut up…"**

**He still laughed, heading for another door that lead into a backyard. "So you're all-for Aisha, huh?"**

**"Is there any doubt in your mind?" I questioned him.**

**He shook his head as he approached a girl by a tree, sitting alone and apparently daydreaming. "That's Asuka."**

**I sat and eyed her a moment; a typical pretty-girl, probably with no brains whatsoever. Odds are, she'd be blonde or at least have bleached her hair, so it would look blonde, and she adorned a pair of dark brown eyes. Now normally, I would've though that good-looking… no question about it… but there was something about this one that I didn't like. She possessed an aura that was more a dark pink than my black… not a match. Not to mention, there was an air of trouble about her.**

**The moment her dark eyes turned to me, I knew it for sure. "My God…" she gasped, orbs widening. "Did the Holy ****Battle**** strip you of your wings, angel?"**

**"Is that a pick-up line?" I questioned of her.**

**"Could be."**** She replied, leaning uncomfortably close to my face. "But then…" she began to circle me. "Are you deceiving me or are you really an angel?"**

**"Nay," I confirmed. "I'm afraid I'm nothing but a vagabond."**

**"Since when does a vagrant possess the features of a god?" she asked, causing me to recoil by leaning in again.**

**"Since when is a huge, upturned nose, high cheeks, narrow, mismatched eyes, a powerful brow, and stripes on a solid creature considered attractive?" I batted back, pointing out everything I hated about myself.**

**"Boy…" she cocked a brow condescendingly. "You don't get out much, do you?"**

**"Lived outside my whole life."**** I shot back at her.**

**"Hah! He's got a sense of humor, too." She smirked. "Rare to find all the best qualities on one man… usually they're gay."**

**I gave a dry shudder. "Well, I assure you, I'm not…"**

**"Very reassuring."**** She ended, letting her voice trail off.**

**"I'm sure." I replied.**

**Yamaru still sat just off to my side, and she finally took notice that he was there. "Oh, it's the freak again."**

**"Good day to you, too, Asuka." He jeered.**

**"What're you doing here, nerd?" she snapped.**

**He stared her down blankly. "I live here."**

**"Oh, right." She said lazily, waving a hand. "But what I really meant was 'what are you doing in the presence of sir Salvatore here?'"**

**She spoke Italian, calling me a savior… what a sad case this broad was.**

**"Because… _Shiro _is my friend." He growled.**

**"And Salvatore's my middle name." I told her.**

**"What a lucky guess." She ended, smiling hopefully and scoffing at Yamaru. "How could _you _possibly make friends? Especially with such a _godly _beauty as this one…"**

**"I guess you could say he ran into me on the way here." I joked, mainly to get a chuckle out of him, seeing as he knows of what I speak. "He's actually got a rather magnetic personality."**

**"Whatever you say."**** She offered quietly.**

**"And being a killer, I suppose that means my persona sucks, so hey, what the hell?" I asked callously, offering a shrug.**

**"You… are an assassin?" she questioned with much less confidence than before.**

**"The legendary Hellface, nonetheless."**** I told her. "I thought you would've noticed by now… everyone else seems to catch on pretty quickly."**

**She stared in awe, barely blinking. "I… I've seen the killer and lived…" she murmured.**

**"Hey, I don't go by that policy anymore." I reassured. "Now my motto is: 'Get on my nerves and I kill you.' I'm done with that whole killing on sight shit."**

**"How fortunate."**** She commented. "Because in the former days, I'm sure you might've taken the liberty of leaving me in my blood…" she trailed off. "But then again, that's a maybe, isn't it?"**

**I thought a moment. "Hmmm… nope, you'd be dead." I assured. "Sorry to bust your bubble."**

**"Not at all… I respect that."**

**_Jeez, there's no repelling this girl, is there?_**** "I see."**

**"Now you see what I mean?" Yamaru whispered.**

**"Yeah, I get you." I replied back, trying to avoid little miss fangirl's earshot. _"She's really annoying, too… breaching my personal space bubble and all. Not to mention she keeps calling me divine when I don't even think I'm remotely less than ugly."_**

**_"Women…" _****he commented back, chuckling to himself.**

**_"Hey, not all of them are bad." _****I shot back at him. _"You just haven't met a decent one yet."_**

**_"I'll have to keep that in mind." _****He reassured, still looking at Asuka. _"You know, she's not bad-looking… just has a horrible personality."_**

**_"Are you trying to suggest something?"_**

**He shrugged. _"Hey, your choice, pal."___**

**I shook my head slowly, and all the while the girl had kept an eye on us. "What _are _the two of you talking about?"**

**"I… seem to recall an appointment, could I get back to you?" I asked her, without waiting for an answer, "thanks." I ended, taking off and signaling for Yamaru to follow. As soon as we were out of earshot, I spun on a dime and halted.**

**"Yeah?**** What's your deal?" he inquired calmly, offering a callous shrug.**

**"'My deal' is that she's a whore, man." I informed him. "And I'm already interested in a girl, so she can forget me."**

**"Oh, so you've got a girlfriend, I get it." He nodded understandingly while saying.**

**"Actually… no."**** I admitted quietly. "I… I _like _a girl, but I don't know how she feels about me…"**

**"I know the feeling." He murmured.**

**"And you're the only one I can talk to without starting a riot." I explained in a subtle melancholy; the norm for one such as myself.**

**"Happy to say that I can't admit to such."**** He muttered.**

**"Well, alright, since I probably couldn't speak to her personally; being that she has her own life and all; would you like to see what kind of beauty I'm talking about?" I suggested of him.**

**"Alright, I'll humor you." He replied. "But this'd better be good… I mean, with your taste in anime chicks; I'd be real disappointed if she wasn't gorgeous."**

**"Between her and Aisha; it's a dead tie." I told him. "Mainly because Kasumi doesn't have the dark eyes that I like."**

**"Uh huh…" he said quietly, though I think he was just being a smartass and didn't get my specific likings.**

**I shook my head briefly, heading back into the woods area around Kae's house; searching high and low for the Arc I'd come to adore. To no avail thus far, I continued to search; and Yamaru decided to quiz,**

**"I assume you're still looking; but what's she like, in case I see her first?" he inquired innocently.**

**"Blonde hair, blue eyes, orange with black stripes."**** I explained. "About six-three, slight muscular definition."**

**He gave me a strange look, turning his head on an angle and cocking a brow quizzically. "****Orange****… with black stripes?"******

**I chuckled to myself. "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention… she's an Arcanine."**

**"A-Arcanine?" he reiterated.**

**I nodded. "Have a problem with them or something?"**

**"It's just… at school, I'm always getting beaten up by an Arcanine and a Houndoom." He explained. "They hate me."**

**My expression narrowed subtly at such injustice, because not only was it simply the way of nature picking on the weaker of the combatants between dog and cat, but I know how it is… being put-down by the hounds simply because I was a feline. "Where do they live?"**

**The look of fright about his face was somewhat amusing as he shook his head feverishly. "I don't know, but you don't have to kill them…"**

**I snorted. "Alright, I won't _kill _them if you don't want me to… but they _will_ know the meaning of vengeance when I'm through with them."**

**"A-alright…" he stuttered. "But you… you really don't have to do this… I don't know why I even brought it up."**

**I slapped him across the face lightly and stared him down. "Dude, I'm your friend… while this is still in effect, you will _never _be bothered, teased, or beaten-up by _anyone_ everagain." I assured. "Not if I have anything to say about it."**

**He looked back at me, as though I had just offered him his one and only wont. "Shiro?" he questioned weakly.**

**I turned back without a word.**

**"You're a saint." He ended gratefully, bowing his head.**

**I smirked. "I'm no saint…" I corrected. "I'm just the rhetorical devil… but instead of a price, I'm just your friend."**

**"I'm glad." He chuckled darkly. "Because if I would've had to make a deal, I'm sure you would've asked for a greater price than el Diablo himself."**

**"El Diablo?"**** I repeated. "You're Spanish?"**

**"Half-Spaniard."**** He replied. "On my mother's side."**

**"That's interesting." I told him, offering a slight chortle as I got to my feet once again and made off for where Kasumi was supposed to be. "Are you good at telling races, or am I just assuming?"**

**"Pretty good, why?" he returned, following me and easily matching my short stride.**

**"Could you tell what I am?" I inquired of him, glancing back.**

**"You have a human form I could see?" he questioned.**

**I stoutly nodded, rising to my hind legs and awaiting the transformation of the human I saw as myself; my arms and legs losing mass and length, spacing slightly closer together as my Mewtwoan hips narrowed to that of a male human. My torso reformed to a narrow waist and a broader chest, shoulders remaining their width apart and gaining muscle connecting to the neck. My chin sprouted black hairs and my entire face melded inward, a mane of long ebon locks erupting from my head. My brows formed more prominently and also adorned wiry black hairs, my muzzle splitting into an upturned nose and thin pair of lips hiding dagger fangs. Being that I was clothed before, I turned out the same way this time, a band about my neck and left wrist, an earring in my left ear.**

**"Huh," he muttered, "so that's you as a human, eh?" he questioned. "I must say…" he glanced away. "You grew down."**

**"Humph."**

**He laughed at me, beginning to look the part of a human as well. Soon enough, a tall boy with dark brown hair about to ear-length on a normal man walked just to my side. His face was soft and somewhat round; girlish like Lion's, but with darker features. His eyes seemed unfocused, as though he could barely see, and his limbs and torso were skinny enough that it looked like he was anorexic. Sticking one bony hand into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of thick, black, square-rimmed glasses and put them on, blinking and adjusting to the sight.**

**"So, you're visually impaired, eh Yamaru?" I inquired of him wryly, remembering that I was half-blind myself. However, the sight left in my remaining eye was as sharp as a hawk's or better, so it made up for what was lost.**

**"Quite." He replied. "To an extreme extent, if you will… can't even see solid shapes without these…" he tapped his eyewear unenthusiastically.**

**"Well, I'm blind in this eye," I told him, pointing to the left one. "Because of a fight I got in when I was young."**

**"You certainly have a history, don't you?" he said quietly. "With you, it's always a fight you got in or a person you killed… a story behind every scar, while I'm just a nobody… born with it or some such thing, instead of gaining it through conquest."**

**"Hey, be happy, bitch." I barked back. "I'm little Mr. Vertically-Challenged, Scar-butt, Mooneye…" I ended quietly. "I'm four-foot-fuckin'-eleven! Meanwhile, you're what, five-eight?"**

**"Five-ten." He answered.**

**"Point proven."**** I told him in a mutter. "So, what do I look like? Some European ethnicity is all I know."**

**"French, German, Irish… Actually, you look German, except for the hair. Your dark hair makes you look French." He told me.**

**"I hate the French." I assured him. "I'll be damned if I'm _any _part Frenchman."**

**He laughed aloud. "Wow, you're headstrong." He told me, glancing down at the top of my head. "Your roots are light, though… not black at all. Some kind of yellow or orange…"**

**"Meanwhile, you look Japanese except for the lack of narrow eyes. You have the basics of an oriental, but you definitely do look the part of a Spaniard as well." I told him. "I'd have to say I'm pretty good at the same thing."**

**"So what about your Kasumi?" he queried. "What is she?"**

**"Blonde, like a German, but with a bit of an oriental build…" I admitted. "She's more beauteous than many women you'll ever see, that much I know for sure."**

**"She'd better be." He snapped. "With how you keep carrying on, especially."**

**I lead him onward, still ever-searching, but finding no trace of her blonde locks or watery straw-colored tail. No flash of orange fur, nor empty stripe of ebony. Not a skirt of lavender nor shirt of jade, combat boots of jet black reaching her slender knees. Stopping at the edge of the forest and thinking a moment, I halted him with a hand. "I think she may be at a rave… typical hangout for her." I assured him. "Likely, we'll see her there."**

**"Whatever you say, man.**** I'm tired of traveling." He muttered.**

**I lead him to the spot where we'd met from time to time, entering the building and telling the bouncer how I'd been recommended here before, and knew Kasumi and Lion. He glanced to Yamaru without a word and nodded, allowing us passage.**

**"Man, that dude's creepy." He commented after we entered.**

**"Yeah, but he's good friends with Lion… my supposed dad." I explained.**

**He cocked a brow. "Eh… I see."**

**I scanned the bar quickly, noting Lion's presence and pointing him out to Yamaru before looking to the dance floor; the spot I'd seen her when first we met here…**

**"Shiro-kun!!!" a highly familiar voice called out, and I felt completely alone until I was tackled from behind and fell to the floor. "How've you been?"**

**"Hello, Kasumi…" I mumbled. "Could you please get off?"**

**"Oh, sure."**** She responded, standing to her feet and allowing me room to stand. "Wait… whozat?" she asked, looking directly to Yamaru and tilting her head, blonde locks falling to one side.**

**"A new friend of mine."**** I told her.**

**"Oh… well just as long as he's not another stalker…" she told me with a sigh. "I get enough of that as is."**

**"I know what you mean." I assured her. "But no… just some kid I met on the street."**

**"Even though he's older than you."**** She commented.**

**"Older?" I inquired.**

**She nodded. "At least he looks that way… wait… you're how old?"**

**"Seventeen."******

**She blinked in slight surprise. "You're seventeen?"**

**I nodded to assure her of my answer. "Yeah… what, you're really that old?"**

**She blushed heavily. "I'm _older_… umm, older than you…"**

**"Well, how old?**** I mean, you can't be over twenty-four, can you?" I asked her.**

**She chuckled. "You flatter me…" she sneered. "It's rude to ask a woman her age."**

**I gave her a strange look, shrugging. "I told you how old I am… what's the problem with telling me?"**

**"It's a disrespect for a woman to tell her age to a man!" she protested. "You're not old enough to know that yet…"**

**"Oh, what, so now I'm a boy!?" I demanded of her.**

**"I'm thirty-two!" she hissed.**

**_Thirty-two???_****_ She's got to be joking!_**** "You don't look a day over twenty!"**

**"Like I said; you're flattering… but you're still just a boy." She ended darkly.**

**I couldn't begin to fathom what she was saying… she was telling me off; scolding me because I was young… though she was fifteen years older than me, if what she was saying was truth. Old enough to be my mother… and I… I was… just a boy.**

**I had to leave… there was no arguing. I looked back to Yamaru, speaking in person to my father, and pulled him aside as he hurriedly said his final farewells. I dragged him out by the collar and sat beneath the window in a dark and sullen alleyway.**

**"What's the big deal, man?" he questioned, seeing me crouched over, head buried in my hands, fingers knitted between my locks of hair.**

**"I'm completely out of my league…" I admitted to him, my dark voice breaking to a new octave and causing me more loathing toward it than usual.**

**He glanced back in through the window and searched about for her, starting at the sight and pressing his glasses farther up his nose as they slid off. He shot his gaze back to me, then to her again. "What makes you say that? Sure, she's amazing… but you're not so bad yourself."**

**"It's not looks!" I corrected him. "She still thinks I'm a boy!"**

**He glanced back and forth. "She _can't _be over twenty-three, man… and how old are you? You look about sixteen."**

**"I'm seventeen… and she's thirty-two."**

**He stumbled and fell back. "You're kidding…"**

**"I fucking wish I was!" I countered. "But she's almost twice my age!"**

**He shook his head slowly. "I don't know just what you were thinking about when you picked her, but hey…" he sat to my right. "You're just going to have to show her that you're not a boy. Because when I saw you for the first time, your legend got me thinking that you were at _least _her age. Then I find out you're younger than _me, _and my whole thought process turned upside-down!"**

**"Oh, so I'm the little one, huh?" I questioned.**

**"I'm eighteen, dude." He assured. "So yeah, you're like the little brother."**

**I shook my head, sighing. "I feel like I'm the youngest bastard in my whole fucking generation…"**

**"But you're also the most famous." He pointed out. "The foulest scallywag to crawl from the pits of Hell and wreak havoc and fear into the hearts of the millions."**

**"Boy, you've done your research." I jeered back at him.**

**He chuckled. "Call me a fan."**

**I sighed. "Still… what does it matter if I can't be anything to her?"**

**"Maybe she knows what you've accomplished—it's a rare person who doesn't—but it could be that she's only taking into account how much difference there is in your age." He suggested. "You should prove to her that your mentality is far beyond that of your age group. Prove that you're much more than just a boy."**

**"You're a sage." I complimented. "Though that's probably just your poetic nature speaking, eh?"**

**He nodded. "Chicks love poetry, so far as I know. But since all of them avoid me, it's hard to even talk to them, let alone find out."**

**"Why do they avoid you?"**

**He shot me a flat expression. "What, the nerd-o-meter hasn't spun out of control to you?"**

**I shook my head. "Nope, not that I can think of."**

**He sighed. "Well, you're one in a million, buddy. Asuka went around school for years telling people to avoid me."**

**"So you don't have any friends?"**

**"Besides you?" he quizzed. "No, not really."**

**I glanced aside, chuckling. "Well, being a vicious, bloodthirsty manslayer, I don't happen to have too many friends, myself." I brushed back my short bangs only to have them fall back into place. "They always think I'm going to turn on them… betray them some way, somehow."**

**"Harsh." He commented darkly.**

**"Yeah, especially when I was younger… at the age of three, you don't tend to take those things lightly."**

**"When it's all your life, though…"**

**"It's even worse than just at a young age."**

**"You feel as though"**

**"you're never going to break free of the spiral." I ended, looking back and just now noticing how we'd barely known each other a few hours and we already finished each other's sentences. "You know the feeling, eh?"**

**"Apparently, so do you." He commented.**

**"We're like kindred spirits, man." I told him, finally gathering the strength to stand; using the wall as my support. "I think we were supposed to meet like today… y'know, the whole destiny, hands of fate kind of deal."**

**He nodded, stretching as he rose to a mile above my head. "I guess so, seeing as neither of us have any friends in the first place. It's like the gods' little game of cards."**

**"Let's ditch this place…" I suggested. "I need to get away from the city…"**

**He glanced to the sky, his glasses glinting orange, and looked back to me. "Actually… I should probably get home. If I know my dad, he'll think I'm dead ten times before hitting the ground in your company."**

**I tipped my head in a nod. "Understandable. It's a rare person that trusts me, and an even rarer one that feels secure in my presence."**

**"Then I guess I'm one in a million, because it's like I've known you all my life… you seem like an estranged little brother, if it weren't for our almost opposite bloodlines… and hey, I'm not short or fierce or even handsome… take pride in that." He saluted me and turned away. "See ya'… maybe tomorrow."**

**"Auf wiedersein."**** I waved him off, turning away and stuffing my fists into my pockets, slouching profusely and walking out of the city that caused me so much anguish.**

**Just thinking to myself, I strayed across a strange thought. _Gee, if I was gay, all my troubles would be over._ Scoffing and laughing away that absurd notion, I continued, dragging on my stagnant steps and languished efforts. I swore to myself long ago that I would never try to change… that I wouldn't turn a one-eighty anytime soon. Slowly but surely I was abiding that vow, and subtly, my ways were becoming different… I was a little looser. A little less set in my ways…**

**"It's only temporary." I assured myself. "Tomorrow everything will be different… I'll be back to my stubborn, hard-ass ways. I don't sway for long, and today I'm in somewhat of a good mood… by tomorrow, it'll hit me like a brick how stupid I was to let up, and I'll revert to the way I was. My faithful, one-track defiance and star-crossed love for Kasumi will return full-force… I can remember how it felt to be confident… in what I do……"**

**I let out a sigh of torment and brushed back my bangs again, only to have them fall into place as usual. But… it wasn't the same… these weren't my bangs… they were the lengthened hairs of a human. These hands, with five digits… they were human… these scrawny limbs and separation of muscle control were all human… normally I spat upon mankind, but in my out-of-mind state, I felt almost comfortable with this anatomy—it was no doubt similar to my own. I was distant… I barely knew what I was talking about… but I wanted to be a man, rather than a white feline.**

**Though being in this state meant that I was no longer a part of nature, and now was a product of this kind.**** I couldn't sleep in a tree without being called peculiar. I couldn't groom myself or preen my fur without receiving strange looks. I now had a head of excessively long fur that was rough and wiry in comparison to my real pelt. I had a nose rather than nostrils and it faced about the same angle, but was separate from my mouth. Rather than internal sex organs… well, I think you would know. I now possessed collections of fat on my chest that would be mammary glands on a female. My shoulders were heavily accented and connected to a brawny neck that held my head upright. I no longer possessed the plate about my collar, nor the vital artery that fed my brain. I had to wear clothes about my form or be arrested for 'indecent exposure.'**

**I suppose it was better than living my life on edge, narrowly escaping the clutches of the long arm of the law and being watched-for by the masses because I'd lost my temper and killed a few of them. A few hundred-thousand, that is.**

**Averting my sights to the sky, I took notice of how dark it really was. "Must be around ****midnight**** I told myself, blinking lazily and returning to the front. As soon as I strayed even ten feet away from the city, I found myself looking at a fat man in a blue uniform. As I turned my eyes reluctantly upward, I glanced to the man's face and saw that he was wearing a blue cap to match his uniform. _Sheizer! It's a cop!_ I cursed to myself, knowing nine languages and having the capacity to often cuss in German.**

**"Hey, kid, do you know what time it is?" he asked.**

**"Who're you calling a kid?" I hissed back.**

**"Well, I don't see anyone else here, so I guess that'd be you. How old are you, boy?" he inquired, showing a similar smartass attitude to mine.**

**"Seventeen."**** I told him, attempting to make my way out of the area.**

**"Wow, get back here!" he called, stepping in front of me. "You're in violation of the curfew, boy. You're going to have to come with me."**

**"Screw that!" I spat at him, turning and running off as he attempted to subdue me.**

**"Hey! Get back here!" he shouted after me, talking quietly into his intercom as I ran.**

**"Jeez, yet another run-in with the cops…" I commented to myself as I kept up my pace. "When will it end??"**

**I turned forth again, finding myself engulfed in glass, steel, and concrete. I'd run for the city instead of the woods! Goddamnit! Ah well… I knew my way around here… I'd killed just about everyone in every building here before, not to mention lived my childhood in this pit of hell that people dared call civilization…**

**I slowed to a walk and crept along the streets, my every memory flooding back to me as I felt a gripping heartache from the pit of my being and longed to be somewhere else…**

**The night was once my enemy. I was most vulnerable at night because I had to stay awake… I had to avoid being captured by anyone or anything, lest history should repeat itself…**

**It'd been four years since the worst day of my life, and I could point out and identify the very spot where I'd lost almost everything… a wavering will to live was all I left with.**

**Now the night was my ally, hiding me within the shadows that kept my pale form unnoticed while I did my heinous deeds. It was my veil of anonymity when I killed, my shade of black in counter to my white… but this time, it brought back iniquitous memories and reminded me of what my life was, and what it was becoming again…**

**"Hey you!"**** I heard a familiar voice shout, as the policeman had finally caught up to me and was running his fat ass off.**

**I shook my head condescendingly. "He'll never catch me." I thought aloud as I broke into another dash, leaving the corpulent officer in my dust.**

**I'd lost him by a mile once I turned my head back, but I skidded to a halt as soon as I'd seen another in front of me and veered left. I kept up a grueling pace for my short body and made for the woods. "Damn! It was an ambush…" I figured to myself, dodging trees as I ran through the woods.**

**"And so was this!" a different voice shouted, causing me to snap my head back just in time to ram into a third cop that was strategically placed to catch me.**

**I staggered back and landed on my hindquarters, hurriedly leaping to my feet and picking up speed as I was tackled to the earth. Only this time, it wasn't the familiar lightweight hound that would simply move away at my whim… this time I was down for good…**

**"Get off me, you hog!" I barked at the cop as he held me to the ground with a foot and I struggled to squirm away as cold metal bound my hands together and restrained use of my otherwise weak arms. I felt him take hold of my tail and pull me to my feet by the collar, my form being small enough that he was able to do so. I was four-eleven and a hundred-fifteen pounds at barely a few months past seventeen…**

**"You're under arrest for violation of curfew and evasion of the law, son. You have the right to remain silent." He snapped.**

**"I said let off, you disgusting pig! I'll make bacon out of you if you even touch me again!" I roared back, lashing out with my legs and struggling with everything I had.**

**"And if you don't sit down and shut up, I'll take you in on charges of assaulting and harassing an officer!" he growled, forcing me into a headlock and wrenching my head upward.**

**I still kicked backward, biting into his arm and clenching my fangs together with all the strength in my feeble jaw.**

**"This one's a fighter!" he grunted into his intercom. "I'm going to need backup!"**

**I began to wrench free as he kindled his arm, and broke out of his hold as more of the pigs showed up and surrounded me. I attempted to break their wall by charging through them, but one wrenched me back by the tail and several of them sprayed me with mace.**

**It was worse than a fiery infernos, but I wasn't about to give up. I pulled my tail in, knocking over the cop that held it, pried my burning eyes open and attempted to straighten my blurry vision as I drew breath through my blazing nostrils. I took off blindly, not getting far before two policemen took a rough hold on my shoulders and as I was lifted from the ground, a third pinned my legs and tail.**

**Still I resisted, wrenching my torso about to attempt escape once more. Hopeless though it was, an attempt I did make… because I never give in without a fight… I felt a sharp pain in my head and fell limp, barely aware of what'd happened.**

**"Never in all my days have I seen a juvenile put up such a struggle…" one policeman muttered as I felt dully aware of anything and shook my head gently, recovering from the mace's spray and finding myself being dragged into a station.**

**"A remarkable child… it's unfortunate he had to be a law-dodger." Another commented.**

**"I think I might need to go to a hospital…" the cop I bit added from behind.**

**"Go ahead, we'll lock him up and send him to juvenile prison." The final cop told him, looking down and glaring at me. "You're going to be put away, kid… there's no place for hoodlums like you except where you're headed. Maybe you'll learn to abide the law."**

**I snapped at him, hissing and bearing my fangs.**

**"He's still got some fight left in him. You'd better keep this one restrained." The injured cop snarled. "I'll see to it that you never get out of this until you're better educated, brat."**

**As he exited the room, I smiled and mustered up some breath, calling out, "Sueey!!!"**

**"Lock him up!" the man demanded, storming out of the building. "Better not have given me rabies…"**

**Another officer approached the three that were holding me, as I laughed away the fourth. "Wow, this one's been through the mill… what are the charges?"**

**"Violation of curfew, evading the law, assault and harassment of an officer."**** The fat one explained.**

**"Hah!" I barked. "I've done much more than that, my podgy persecutor."**

**"You're saying you're a repeat offender?" one asked.**

**I snorted. "I've done things you could've never imagined capable by someone my age."**

**"Oh? Well, why don't you lay a few of those offenses down on us?" the third sneered almost superiorly.**

**"Why, when you already know my crimes?" I questioned, slowly morphing back into a Mewtwo. As soon as I grew to six-foot, they were long-since wetting themselves and tripping over one another to escape. "'Tis a rare person that doesn't…"**

**"It's Hellface!" someone yelled.**

**"Arm yourselves!" a cop commanded, and I saw gun barrels pointed at me as I stood there. "We've got an A-1 class murderer here!"**

**"Now," I began, causing them all to jump. "I suggest you lower your weapons… because I'm not in the mood to kill right now, and I would hate to waste your lives when there need not be any bloodshed."**

**Shakily, they held their ground.**

**"Look, if you just let me go, I won't lift a finger against you… resist me and I'll slaughter you all without a moment's thought." I warned them. Just to make sure they knew what I was talking about, I pulled and snapped apart the handcuffs, letting them dangle like odd bracelets from my emaciated wrists. "Oh, and by the way, I don't like mace sprayed in my fucking face!" I ended in a forceful bark as I began to walk slowly out. "You ever do that again and I'll be sure that every one of you goes down in a pool of blood, be it yours or someone else's."**

**As I left, they all froze, and I slammed the door shut behind me, leaping and climbing atop the building, traveling by rooftop. I sat atop one and felt my head that still throbbed uncomfortably. A section of the top of my cranium was swollen and felt like a bee sting when I tapped it. "The bastards blackjacked me!" I cursed, growling fiercely and returning to my travel, making my way back into the forest again.**

**I made my way through the trees as I had through the city, thinking to myself and coming to a conclusion. Spitting a laugh, I remembered that Yamaru left before sundown… he knew about this curfew that'd caused me so much trouble, and gotten the bloody hell out of there while the getting was good. I came to a stop in a tree near one edge of the woods. The scene was near a graveyard, and it seemed to spark some hidden feeling in the numb, cavernous emptiness that was my dulled emotion. Awake I lay into the late hours of the night, thinking of what I'd done over the years and how I felt nothing… how I was just a shell; a worthless pile of flesh and bones. I barely exhumed any emotion whatsoever… all my life, it was how I was. If I had… I would've turned up crazy and been locked away long ago…**

**Because I was so hollow… because I never hesitated; from the first person I ever killed to any crime I'd ever committed, I always charged headlong into things without a moment's hesitation. I never stopped to consider anything… never asked why or what I was doing. I was far from insane, I knew that for sure… I didn't obsess over who or what I was going to kill next. I didn't have strange visions or nightmares… those were all real. I knew perfectly well that I was taking a person's life… and I had no problem with it. All of that was too trivial. Too simple an answer…**

**I don't remember too much after that… waking with a splitting shard of pain from the back of my head, I realized that I must've thought myself to sleep. I stirred with a view of the graveyard from the night before, and looking upon it, I remembered that I'd strayed away from what I knew and come to rest here… in my callous survey of the surroundings, I climbed from the tree, realizing that I had stubby fingers, frail arms, and fragile legs… I'd changed into a human in my sleep… some subconscious thought returned me to this form… but why?**

**I approached the yard of the dead, tombstones reflecting from the innards of my eyes, casting an ominous sense of foreboding about the place, knowing that creatures no longer living were embedded in the soil and decaying as I thought about it.**

**I took another surveying glance about the entire scene and noted the presence of a young boy, weeping over some loss before two gravestones and choking, trying to suck it up as I approached.**

**"What's with you?" I questioned insensitively, hands in the confines of my pockets and tail held neutrally.**

**He looked back at me, trying to be serious before he turned back to the grave. He was probably ten or eleven years old, brownish hair and crimson eyes. Strange, how I didn't recognize his species, but he was no normal human. Two names read on two gravestones, both bearing the same last name. He cried pitifully and whimpered. "He did it…" he sobbed.**

**"Who did what?" I inquired, still standing.**

**"Hellface!**** Hellface took my mom and dad from me!" he cried out, sobbing harder than before.**

**_So, I did this? _****I asked myself, glancing over the cold stone and empty words etched into their unfeeling flesh. _Strange…… how I feel no remorse._ I watched, unfazed by the words, by the prospect that I'd made this kid an orphan and I didn't care…**

**In fact, at the thought, I began to laugh. "Hah!" I barked at him, glancing away and to the ground. "That bastard took a hell of a lot more from me, kid." I muttered, ending quietly on a downnote. I turned away as he looked desperately up at me and walked off, thinking about that and shaking my head slowly. "A hell of a lot more."**

**"W-wait, sir!" he called.**

**_Hah! Sir. _****"What do you want, kid?" I asked of him.**

**"What exactly _did _he take from you?" he asked quietly, in an almost dusty voice.**

**"Everything."**** I responded darkly. "My hope, my heart, my will… my solace, my confidence, my audacity…" I told him. "Anything and everything I ever had are lost to that man… that name… that entity." _Because that was who I was…_**

**"Oh…" he replied, losing the pace he'd kept up with me for my little speech. "Well, I'm sorry… he's been a terror to everyone."**

**"You have no idea." I assured him. _You have no idea because no one does… no one but me… _"I have a feeling it'll all end soon, though." _I've grown tired of this life… I need an escape._**

**"How are you so sure?" he asked innocently.**

**"Because I know the very thing that keeps this city awake at night.**** I've been in contact with your worst nightmare before… I know, better than _anyone_, the terror that has wrought fear into the heart and soul of the bravest men and brought them to their knees, pleading for another end. I am one with that nightmare."**

**The kid wasn't smart enough to figure out what I'd meant. I'd admitted to any person with a working mind that I was the one who'd killed everyone… but my string of rarely-noted words and poetic stanza had thrown the child off, like a dog following a stick. I made my way away; not one to enjoy the presence of young children or teenagers, even though I was one myself. I wanted to shoo the child away and let him be to wallow in sorrow once more, or whatever it was he was doing… whatever the case, I basically wished him to leave.**

**However, as I moved on, I still sensed his presence. I glanced back, my cold and unforgiving gaze casting him farther away as he recoiled, staring back at me with glittering redden eyes full of tentative depression. "What?" I asked him in more of a bark than I'd intended.**

**"I guess I really don't have it so bad, do I?" he asked.**

**I replied with a scoff. "You have misfortune to a slight extent… you've just never talked to the Shiro Sasaki of your day." _Using my name as a metaphor to represent the guy with the worst luck in the world… I'm being way too melodramatic. _"I've got somewhere I have to be…" I lied to the child, to hopefully ditch him.**

**"Bye, then…" he muttered, returning to the graveyard.**

**"Jesus! I thought I'd never lose that pathetic pre-teen…" I snarled as soon as he was out of earshot. "I hate kids…"**

**_And yet, I like them before they're able to talk… because when they learn to talk, they learn to badmouth and backtalk._**** I allowed a trace of a sigh to escape my throat, shaking my head. "Like I'm ever going to actually settle down. I hate children, I'm not the fondest of women in the first place… but Kasumi's an exception. And well, I could just never see myself with descendants… I'm a killer… a murderer in cold blood that never has a target farther away than arm's reach. It's not like some broad off the streets or even one who's half-decent or likeable would ever want to bear my children… spawn of hell itself, they'd be." Again, I strayed to Kasumi and wondered, daydreaming as I walked and thinking of her as usual. What end did I have with her, if any? Because that was the path I wanted to take.**

**"Who am I kidding?" I demanded of myself, shaking my head and allowing my dark hair to dangle before me. "I don't have a future with her. All I see is a few good years and an argument to end it all." _It's happened before… it's bound to happen again._ "But I still love her…"**

**Sighing hopelessly, I wandered onward. No particular end came to mind for me, but all I knew was that I didn't want it to be a monotonous loneliness searching for an answer or a way out… I didn't want to think about how I could do everyone a favor and just end it all, by knife, by sword, by starvation… all of them sounded okay right about now. Only three or four people would even miss me… it's not like I have any better end…**

**Except for one factor that was keeping me alive… I didn't want to die. I wasn't suicidal on a normal basis… so why was I even thinking about it? Never before have I turned to such an answer or even attempted such an idiotic act. I lived on because I didn't feel like giving up… no matter how difficult life became, I could deal with it.**

**"That's why I'm still here." I told myself, finding myself walking back into town and wandering back to the rave to see if I could talk to Kasumi…**

**I took a seat near the front of the bar, glancing about and finding that my relation had returned home and Kasumi was gone. I didn't feel like leaving, however, and didn't care to get up out of my seat.**

**A presence nearby revealed itself mysteriously for but a moment. I glanced toward it as the femme came closer, blonde bangs of almost silverish hue contrasting the major part of it, a pitch black tinge of almost unnatural coloration separating the two tones with a star-studded headband. This girl bore a pair of grayish eyes, almost silver in hue surrounded by a black outline… she reminded me so much of Shadow it wasn't funny. Her build was slight and slender, revealed on purpose by a skimpy lavender top meant to hang off the shoulders and a low-riding pair of black jeans. A small mole beneath her right eye was noticeable, though I would've thought she would cover it, seeing as chicks are perfectionists like that. No doubt she was pretty, but I guess I didn't care, because I was already in heartache and wasn't in the mood to goggle. Like myself, Mewtwoan fur, tail, and ears were her décor, and she waved her tail subtly, sitting next to me.**

**"Why the long face, handsome?" she inquired sweetly in a dark, drawling voice that almost sounded like Hilda's.**

**"Eh." I replied quietly.**

**"Something on your mind?" she asked, more caringly than I would've thought her character, from the way she looked.**

**"A girl I like thinks I'm too young for her." I answered in a murmur.**

**"Oh?" she responded. "Well, who is she? I might know her."**

**"What, you a regular?" I sneered.**

**She laughed aloud. "You could say something like that… of course, I see a lot of relationships go bad because of a ridiculous little thing like age difference."**

**"Seen it all, have you?"**

**She smiled wryly. "Well, I get alot of it from my clients. They like to talk to me because I guess I'm a good person to confide in."**

**"Her name's Kasumi. She's an Arcanine who comes here often."**

**"Oh, you mean the sweetheart with the combat boots?" she asked, smirking. "Yeah, I know her." Her face darkened. "Well, about how old are you, anyway?"**

**"Just over seventeen."******

**"Hey, me too."**** She commented. "But I see why she'd say you're a little young. It's so _obvious _that she's over thirty, with a figure like that."**

**"How is it women always know each other's age?" I asked. "I thought she was twenty-four."**

**"When you know, you know. Girls just can kind of tell these things because they know their own anatomy." She explained. "But she's really pretty for someone her age… I could understand why you'd think her younger."**

**"Huh…" I muttered, fiddling with my spiked bracelet.**

**"Actually…" she began, looking at me closer. "I think I've seen you around here before. The two of you danced here one day, didn't you?"**

**I nodded. "You were here?"**

**"For awhile, yeah.**** That is, until I found a buyer." She shrugged. "I saw you guys when 'Disease' was playing. Good song, love the band… I thought you looked really happy until someone else asked her to dance."**

**"I was." I answered her. "And you keep talking about clients… what's your job?"**

**"Well," she said with a sigh. "I'm a whore." She ended quietly. "The money's good, but the job could be better."**

**"Oh." I added in a murmur. "Well, I guess you could get by with it, looking like you do."**

**"Ah, thank science and technology for that… I'm a clone of a very pretty man." She said with a chuckle.**

**"Interesting."**** I told her.**

**"Actually, you remind me of him… even though I barely have any memory." She told me. "Funny."**

**I offered a dispirited chortle. "I'm a clone, too, come to think." I admitted. "Do you remember your number?"**

**"I think it was 2643891482509." She recited. I'd followed her exactly up until the last two numbers.**

**"Strange…" I replied, giving her a whimsical look. "I'm 2643891482510."**

**"Hey! You're the clone right after me!" she noted gleefully, extending a hand. "This is amazing! I thought I'd never meet another clone so close to me!"**

**"I'm Shiro, as of the time after I escaped." I introduced.**

**"I know! I read all about you!" she exclaimed. "I'm Yayoi."**

**"Well, nice meeting another clone at all, Yayoi."**** I told her. "Gee, I thought I was more alone than this…" Again, I was startled; having a left-handed shaker.**

**"No, not at all!**** We're practically kin, you and ****I.****" she told me, smiling brightly.**

**"Glad to hear." I agreed, noticing a man approaching and looking us over.**

**"You lookin' at him or are we still at a deal?" he asked in a New Yorkan dialect, addressing Yayoi.**

**She shook her head. "No, he's just a friend." She answered.**

**"Good… I'll be back at nine." He told her, beginning to walk away.**

**She turned back around and gagged. "Some of them are pretty good-looking, but then you get guys like him that look like ass!" she hissed.**

**"Well, I would imagine you'd have to get the ugly bastards as well… I mean, with your job." I offered quietly.**

**"I want to turn them away… but this is my only source of income until I can get a real career." She answered. "It's an endless cycle of proverbial suckiness."**

**"I could only imagine." I told her. "Never got into it because of a bad experience as a child…"**

**"Yeah, that'll kill all desire whatsoever." She said back, as I realized I was saying an awful lot.**

**I glanced away, trying to still my shuddering hands and leaning against the marble top.**

**"What's wrong? You're shaking." She commented.**

**"I know." I answered, trying not to think about it. "It's nothing…"**

**She glanced away hesitantly, I'm pretty sure not believing my reply, but she kept to herself. "Well, I guess I could say I didn't quite have the same childhood, so I guess I was coaxed into it."**

**"Sad, though… you could do a lot more than just what you are. You're a good person." I assured her.**

**"Well, thanks. But like I said, I've applied and been turned-away… I really don't think I could get a job without a college degree…" she said disdainfully.**

**"Society…" I spat. "That's kind of why I'm a renegade."**

**"Must be nice, to not have to worry about trivial matters like money."******

**I chuckled. "For awhile… two weeks, at most. Then it just kind of becomes boring."**

**She snickered. "You're funny. I think you'd make a great person if you stay like this… instead of all the killings you've done."**

**"You know about that?" I queried.**

**"What bloody moron doesn't?" she smirked. "I mean, you _are _the legendary Hellface, are you not?"**

**"I wish I could tell you different."**

**"Well, you don't seem like such a little leech to me. I mean, I suppose it was all for a reason… seeing as you are the way you are." She offered.**

**"You have no idea." I replied.**

**"Oh, but I have an idea… just not a lead." She hinted.**

**"This is hardly the place to speak of this." I warned her. "If someone were to overhear us, I'd be in a load of shit."**

**"Oh, yeah… hmmm."**** She glanced away with her abnormally lax eyes, lazily left half-open, but nearly as focused as my right eye. "I see no one of the particularly suspicious type about… I guess we can save this for another time."**

**I offered a nod. "Besides, I still have to talk to Kasumi…" I assured Yayoi, sliding off my seat and falling the few inches of space between myself and the floor. As she got to her own feet, she naturally reached a good foot or so taller than me.**

**"Wow, you're umm…" she trailed off. "Small…"**

**"Yeah, I know." I murmured.**

**"Well, what happened to you? Born that way, didn't eat well, scientists put an improper balance of calcium in your mix?"**

**I shook my head. "I don't know. My relatives are all so tall…"**

**"Maybe you're just the runt, sweetie. There's nothing wrong with a little guy." She reassured. "In fact, they're irresistibly cute."**

**"So you say, but I just don't see it." I assured.**

**She smirked. "You don't see it? Little guys are _always _surrounded by hoards of pretty girls! In fact, I'm half-shocked that you aren't." she chuckled, ruffling my hair. "S'that your natural color or no? I think it'd look better in blonde or red… or maybe some exotic color like blue!"**

**"I don't think it is." I told her. "A friend told me I had orange roots."**

**She nodded. "But back to what I was saying: little guys are the_ most_ adorable! Girls just can't resist when they see a boy who's even just a few inches shorter than normal. They're almost like pets that can talk back and think for themselves!"**

**"Reassuring… truly."**** I batted back, smirking to a slight. At least she was giving me truths.**

**"Really, don't worry about being disliked. Eventually, even a cold-hearted bitch like me can warm up to a little guy."**

**"Oh, so you're an evil, domineering woman, are you?" I sneered. "I could never tell with that almost fuzzy front you put up."**

**She smiled back. "I only act fuzzy toward people I like. If you ever get me in the same room with some person I hate, expect them dead or out of their mind by the time I'm through with 'em."**

**"Cruel and unusual."**** I told her. "A cold, hard bitch with a pretty face… heheh. Shame I never met you before."**

**"We'dve raised Hell." She assured. "Maybe it's better we met under these circumstances."**

**"Hey, whoever said that was a bad thing?" I asked her, opening and exiting the door.**

**She shook her head. "I certainly didn't." she said, following.**

**"So, you tagging along?" I queried backward.**

**"I have nothing better to do, I assure you."**

**"Welcome, then." I replied. "And one question."**

**"Yes?"**

**"Where did you last see Kasumi?" I questioned of her.**

**She smirked. "Not far from here; I'll show you."**

**She lead me deeper into the day, and into the woods as well. Sunlight seemed to escape me, running away at one glance of my haggard face. Chasing the fallen ebb of light, always pursuing the endless horizon and the unreachable orb that only seemed to want to stay afar from the beaten, weathered skin; the horrid, brutal scars and crimson-tainted slashes that damaged my veteran soul as much as my youthful complexion. It ran from the overwhelming darkness I carried within me… the enveloping emptiness I held dear to my ebon heart.**

**Until; I spotted a shimmer… a glint of flaming opal, reflected from a golden surface that could only be my passion's amber locks. I made toward it with great haste, leaving my leader behind and chasing the dashing orb that was the sunlight…**

**Stopping on an instep, I stood before the intense and radiant beauty I'd chosen to pursue. Catching my vanishing breath in shattered dregs, I swallowed dryly through my barren throat, moistening the demanding, arid void that inhabited my speech… the same void that resided within me; except that an unfulfilled heart requires more than just water to satisfy.**

**As soon as eyes of subtle, eerie blue befell me, I knew I could no longer consider being timid. I felt inadequate, scanned by those deeply scrutinizing eyes and measured as the likes of a boy. The same wild orbs I'd fallen prey to and been lost within for only so long; yet I already felt a sense of belonging in studying…**

**A slight fault in her expression told me this was not a hopeless battle, and I found a new sense of self-right by knowing she bore no grudge. This was my testimony… an internal battle brought to the outside by a rush of adrenaline and a newfound apathy for what would happen.**

**"Oh, hullo Shiro," the voice of an earthen angel engulfed my jaded ears and gave me a new longing for nothing more than words. Only the slightest trace of any deterrence in her face formed a still mouth to a hidden smile. "I hoped you'd come."**

**I fell to these words; sinking only in stature because of the weakness in my knees. I let these words ring for a moment; the best news I'd heard in ages. _"I hoped you'd come."_**

**_"Don't feel so alone, Kasumi." _****I assured her, without speaking a word. _"I was looking for you…"_ I turned to her, attempting approach with my inhibited limbs and amazing myself by reaching a fair distance. "Might the beast inquire why the beauty did wait?" I asked of her.**

**"Nay, the _beast _may not. However, I've no problem with the feline asking." She told me in return, a wry smile crossing her.**

**"Then by all means, the cat's curiosity is a trait I adore of myself."**

**"I wanted to speak to you." She told me quietly. She glanced to Yayoi, who was making a swift exit. "Who was that?"**

**I chuckled. "Just another clone." I assured. "We all seem to get along fairly well, seeing as we were all handed the same fate."**

**She offered her own subtle laugh, focusing upon my face with her sullen eyes. "Shiro, you do realize… that we're fifteen years apart…" she offered tentatively.**

**"I bear no concern to the matter." I admitted, glancing downward to find that my hands were unstill. Nervous, was I? It was a possibility… that much I know.**

**"None whatsoever or little?" she asked as a safe-netted question.**

**"It means as much to me as the fact that we're breaking the laws of nature—I could care less." I said to her, looking upon her drawing beauty that was famous for attracting her unwanted attention.**

**"It… it means something to ****me.****" she admitted. "It means the difference between us when we marry; it means the feeling that I'm far too old… if we ever had children, they'd be growing older by the time I'm falling shy of sixty!" she paused, shaking her head. "It would mean I would die fifteen years sooner than you, and I would have to leave you alone and miserable…"**

**I pulled through the block around my heart, the shadow of indecision that she seemed to have a habit of donning me. Before I truly knew what I was doing, I'd taken her delicate, yet sword-calloused hand—much like my own—and touched my retreating lips to hers. She presented no resistance, and her lips were full and emitted a subtle warmth… I felt a certain lament when I pulled away and broke into a scarce and gentle smile. "I don't care about all that." I told her. "I care that you might feel out of place…" I let my voice trail off… "But since when did I ever feel I was in the right place?"**

**She watched me through her still startlingly deep and wondrous eyes, a beautifully-rendered medium blue. She seemed at a loss for words, before a pink blush plagued her cheeks. "You… you kiss by the book." She uttered quietly. "I…"**

**"You don't have to say anything." I told her. "I know I'm a horrible person… I guess it shows." I began to stand, dismayed and returning to my sallow darkness.**

**"No!" she cried softly, as I felt her indescribably-textured hand take hold of my wrist. "That goes both ways…" she said softly. "I never meant to demean you…"**

**Laughing at my own ignorance, I turned my gaze back to her. "Forgive me… it's been a good while since I've picked up Romeo and Juliet."**

**She exhaled softly, a gentle smile adorning her again. "So you've heard the phrase, I see?"**

**I rejoined her, sitting among the blades of grass again. "Heard it? I've seen so many that were amazing until the kiss… it's disappointing to have to use the phrase darkly."**

**She watched me a moment through her glittering eyes, so truly youthful and full of light and hope that I didn't quite notice how hapless I was. Moments later, she'd placed her delicately-formed hand upon mine and given to me the promise of a kiss.**

**From that moment, I knew her as much more than just an intelligible, beautiful woman… I saw her as so much more; and forgotten my sorrow, enveloped by her light.**

**My withheld and stagnant breath flowed freely again, and for the first time in near seven years, I felt comfortable sitting so close to a female… knowing that she was in the same mindset I was.**

**And for those few moments, the escaping sun seemed to stop running; simply floating below the horizon, tingeing the clouds their flaming arrays of color; casting the dark shadow of indecision into the sky and the space above, ridding it of me and leaving a comforting warmth in its place. A warmth… that could only be shared by an Arcanine.**

**_End_**


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